Kevin Phelan shot a second consecutive round of 70 to lie just two shots off four co-leaders at the halfway point of the Hassan Trophy in Morocco.
The Waterford man’s round included six birdies and three bogeys.
Meanwhile, Michael Hoey is on one under after a one-over-par 73, while Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin and Peter Lawrie missed the cut.
George Coetzee and Tommy Fleetwood remained in contention to secure a place in the Masters as Andy Sullivan, Alexander Levy, Marcel Siem and Ross Fisher all missed out.
Coetzee and Fleetwood need to win at Golf du Palais Royal to book a trip to Augusta in a fortnight's time and reached halfway just one and three shots off the lead respectively.
But the quartet of Sullivan, Levy, Siem and Fisher - who required similar results - all missed the halfway cut in Agadir, with 2013 champion Siem crashing from joint sixth overnight with a second round of 79.
Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Australian Richard Green, Scotland's Richie Ramsay and Wales' Oliver Farr shared the lead on six under par, with Coetzee part of a five-strong group on five under as the top 32 players were separated by just four shots.
"I hit a lot of good shots but the bad ones really hurt me"
Fleetwood added a 71 to his opening 70 to lie three under, while Levy and Siem missed the cut by a shot and Sullivan's chances disappeared with a nine on the par-four fourth in his 75. Fisher finished 10 over after back-to-back rounds of 77.
Sullivan has won twice on the European Tour already this season but told Sky Sports 4: "There was a lot of pressure on my shoulders to perform. I tried to take it off as much as possible but came into it with not really enough preparation.
"I hit a lot of good shots but the bad ones really hurt me. That's golf and I am lucky to just have the opportunity to get into the Masters to be honest. If someone had said that at the start of the year I would have said 'no chance'.
"To have the opportunity to do it was amazing but it's golf, it comes back and bites you a lot of the time.
"I need to go away and work harder and bounce back from this, but I am not going to be too downhearted. I look back on the golf I have played this year and I have played well."
