A surge, an outage and the cut - late drama left the crowds enthralled as they followed Seamus Power and Shane Lowry at Mount Juliet.
After the cold and the rain that marked the first day of July, it was Waterford's returning son Power who sent a jolt of electricity through a dank and dark afternoon.
With Irish hopefuls either falling away or failing to advance, at least there will be a homegrown hero for the sold-out crowds to cheer on among the late pairings at the Thomastown venue this afternoon.
READ MORE: Irish Open 2022 Round Three tee times at Mount Juliet
Power goes out in the third from last pairing with England's Jack Senior at 1pm.
“My game feels in good shape and I feel in a good place mentally," said the 35-year-old, who had his maiden PGA Tour victory last July.
"But you need stuff to go your way.
“I do feel ready, but I’ve felt like that for a while. Some days you just run into a guy who makes a lot of putts.
"Hopefully that’s going to be me this week."
With Lowry's focus firmly on making the cut rather than making ground, the pressure was on Power to deliver when their three-ball with Tyrrell Hatton teed off at lunchtime.
As they did, the heavens opened and the heavy rainfall made the job more difficult - Power found the heavy stuff off the tee on 4 and three-putted to drop to three-under.
But the Waterford man rallied with an instant bounce-back birdie, the start of a run that saw him sink five birdies in seven holes as the weather improved.
While he bogeyed 12 after chopping out from under branches, he sank a 10-foot birdie on the par three 13th to move to within three of leader Jorge Campillo's 11-under lead.
Promise filled the air as the large gallery following Power urged him to get closer still.
But he faltered a little, missing a very makeable nine-foot birdie putt on 15 before skewing his fairway approach on 16, chipping to seven foot and then failing to hole his par attempt.
The opportunity of a birdie on the par-five 17th passed Power by before he followed in Lowry's super 20-foot birdie on the last with a seven-footer of his own.
He'd like to have something similar with a win on the line on Sunday.
"They’re the moments you dream about," grinned Power. "I imagine it would be pretty special coming down the last couple of holes.
"That’s going to be the goal. You've been practising holing the last putt in an Irish Open for years and all that stuff so hopefully I’ll have the chance here on Sunday.”
Lowry, meanwhile, caught fire with a magnificent four-birdie finale to ensure his safe passage through.
He wasn't to know that the cut had moved from three under to two under as the finish line closed in. He did what he felt he had to do, and that gave him great satisfaction.
There was no flicked switch as he walked to the 15th tee knowing he needed at least three birdies, no chat with his caddy Bo Martin about how he could magically transform his round.
Thinking that his tournament was ending freed him up. He began firing at greens and making birdie putts.
"When you hole a putt you need to, that's what satisfies me in golf more than anything," Lowry admitted.
"I stood there over a 20-footer and I needed to hole it, and I did.
"Whether it's to win a tournament, to make a cut or to beat one of your friends, it's pretty cool to do that.
"Seamus was obviously doing his thing, there were some loud cheers from the crowd for him and me and Tyrrell were kind of moping behind him a little bit.
"But thankfully I got going!".
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