Leona Maguire stormed back into contention at the Women’s Irish Open as a seven-under-par 65 left her only two off the pace going into the final day.

Dutch woman Anne van Dam leads on 11 under with England’s Annabel Dimmock in a six-strong group one behind.

Sweden’s Moa Folke led by two overnight but slid back to 10 under after a 74.

Folke’s round was 12 shots more than her sensational 62 on Friday but like all the late starters, she struggled as the wind got up at Dromoland Castle on Saturday afternoon after Maguire had posted her 65.

After bogeying the first, Maguire, 27, didn’t manage a birdie until the sixth and picked up another at the ninth before an unlikely chip-in at the 12th kickstarted her late charge.

“That chip-in on 12 was the first bit of luck all week,” said the world number 16, who was followed by a big gallery at the county Clare venue..

“It kind of just changed everything and I had some nice birdies coming in and that eagle on 16 was obviously a bonus.

“The crowds were phenomenal, especially on the back nine and I suppose I wanted to give them something to cheer about.”

Swede Folke is joined on 10 under by compatriot Jessica Karlsson, English woman Dimmock, who moved into contention with four straight birdies from the 14th, Denmark’s Nicole Broch Estrup, Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom and Spain’s Carmen Alonso.

The Spaniard, who along with Denmark’s Smilla Soenderby and the Czech Republic’s Klara Spilkova, was sharing second spot two behind Folke at the halfway stage, had a dreadful start on Saturday as she bogeyed four of her opening five holes.

However, Alonso fought back with six birdies with her only other mistake a double bogey on the short 17th after finding a water hazard.

Maguire is in a six-strong group on nine under which includes Spilkova and Soenderby, who triple bogeyed the 17th after a couple of errant chip shots.

England’s Felicity Johnson is also in the group two off the pace along with Austrian players Sarah Schober and Christine Wolf.