Irish eyes were smiling after a triple charge at the British Masters led by Paul Dunne, who sat a shot off leader Robert Karlsson after a brilliant 65.
Dunne fired six birdies and a solitary bogey for a round of five-under that left him nicely poised on 11-under-par for a final-day challenge at Close House.
Just a shot behind him are Shane Lowry and McIlroy.
Lowry got home in 66 to keep his hopes very much alive, while McIlroy admitted his competitive juices were flowing again after a superb 64 lifted him into contention for a first win of the year.
At the start of the week McIlroy insisted he was unconcerned about the prospect of just the second winless season of his career, a season which will come to an early end next week.
But the four-time major winner's bogey-free round equalled his lowest score of an injury-hit campaign and gave him a share of the clubhouse lead with Sweden's David Lingmerth.
"You get yourself into contention and you start to think about things and it would be nice to get a win," said McIlroy, who chipped in for a birdie on the fifth and carded three more in a front nine of 31.
64 for Rory. He's currently just one shot back.#BritishMasters pic.twitter.com/VPiNG73Nxn
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 30, 2017
"Hopefully I'm in at least the last half a dozen groups tomorrow and it will be nice to feel that again.
"The crowds have been fantastic. The last couple of tournaments I've been off pretty early on the weekends and had 50 people following me, where there's thousands out there so it's nice to get into that sort of environment again.
"I haven't shot a low score like that in a while, so it was nice to see. I had not really got off to a good start the last couple of days, so to be three under through six it was nice to get off to a start like that."
A furious Ian Poulter remained in contention for a first victory in five years despite a costly incident.
Poulter recovered from an early double bogey at Close House to card a 68 and finish in that five-way tie for second on 11-under alongside Dunne, Graeme Storm, Tyrrell Hatton and Richie Ramsey.
"You get distracted on the wrong hole at the wrong time and it's extremely penal and it's really f****** annoying."
The former Ryder Cup star found the water with his tee shot on the par-three fifth after being distracted by spectators taking pictures on their phones and was still seething hours later.
"What are we doing?" an irate Poulter said. "We've allowed them all to take pictures and videos and tell them to put them on silent, and it doesn't work does it?
"You get distracted on the wrong hole at the wrong time and it's extremely penal and it's really f****** annoying."
Asked if mobile phones should be banned - as they are at Augusta National for the Masters - Poulter added: "No, I just think people need to educate themselves and understand it's an issue for us and them.
"They don't realise they distract us as much as they do. Ninety nine per cent of them are on silent and unfortunately there's a couple which are not. You're not expecting it because you think they've got it on silent.
"I'm angry and am going to continue to be angry until I wake up tomorrow morning. Throwing shots away for no reason is really annoying."
