McIlroy and Reed side-by-side as they chase leaders

Rory McIlroy remains firmly in the hunt at the rain-delayed Hero Dubai Desert Classic as he sits two shots behind the leading pack – with the possibility of a blockbuster third-round grouping with Patrick Reed remaining open.

An eagle on the 13th sent McIlroy on his way to a second-round 70 to move to eight-under-par at a tournament now scheduled for a Monday finish,

That leaves the Irish man two shots off England's Richard Bland, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and American amateur Michael Thorbjornsen, who was finishing off his round this afternoon.

It was a disappointing day for the rest of the Irish contingent with Shane Lowry, Tom McKibbin and Padraig Harrington all finishing towards the bottom of the leaderboard.

Lowry’s tournament effectively came to a halt on the par-three seventh as he took a quadruple bogey and despite three birdies coming in, he finished one-over-par.

McKibbin was always in trouble after a first-round 74, but he exited the tournament with a much-improved 71 with his card containing three birdies and two bogeys to join Lowry on one-over-par.

Harrington was in even worse shape after a horrible 81 first round, but he was one of the hottest players on the course over the drawn out second round.

A bogey on six proved his only blemish as he rolled in eight birdies in all for a brilliant 65 to finish on two-over-par.

Like McIlroy, Reed posted 66-70 over the first two rounds - played over three day – meaning that he could be alongside McIlroy on Sunday depending on how the final stragglers finish in Dubai.

If they are alongside each other, it would be a highly anticipated group given the tension that exists between the pair.

McIlroy insists he did not feel the need to acknowledge Reed after an incident on the range