County Monaghan Motor Club

 

Niall Maguire & Enda Sherry claimed overall victory on last weekend’s Mayo Stages Rally. The pair led the event from start to finish, completing the nine stages one minute clear of their nearest rival. This result followed a podium finish in Birr in what has been an excellent start to the year for the Ballinode duo. Frank Wray/Joe McNulty and Aaron McHale/Paul McGee completed the podium finishers.

The Ballina based Mayo Rally was the opening round of the Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship. A loop of three stages in the Killala area repeated three times was the format of the day. Maguire/Sherry took the lead on the opening stage and never looked back, maintaining a comfortable advantage for the rest of the day. Niall’s son Shane capped off a great weekend for the Maguire team as he and co-driver Stephen Thornton finished 4^th overall and 1^st in Group N. Defending Border Champions, David Moffett & Fintan Sherry made the switch to class 13 this year and much like their dominance of class 11R last year, they led the class from start to finish taking 6^th overall to boot.

Mark Tierney guided Brian Armstrong to 2^nd in class 12 and 13^th overall in their Mk2 Escort. Seamus Connolly/Gary McCrudden made it two class 11R wins in a row and were 17^th overall to boot. Mark Hamill guided Cavan’s Brendan O’Reilly to 34^th overall and victory in class 9. Brendan McAree/Johno Doogan brought their immaculate Porsche 911 to 47^th overall and 9^th in class 14. Declan Connolly/Alison Hughes finished 50^th overall and 2^nd in class 9 bagging some useful Border points. Vincent McAree/Martin Connolly rejoined the event under Super Rally rules after retiring on stage 2. They managed to get the car repaired and back out on the last loop and eventually finished 59^th overall and 3^rd in class 13. Fintan Lennon guided Cavan’s Paul Crosby to victory in the Junior class.

Out of luck were Michael Carbin/Emmet McCooey who retired their Mitsubishi Lancer on stage 2. Sean McCaul/Frank Clerkin were lying 4^th in class before their event came to end on stage 5. Johnny Treanor/Adrian Foley were leading class 9 but would retire on the final stage. Martin Swinburne/Gretchen Fegan were competing in the Junior class but after an up and down day, they too would retire on stage 6 whilst lying 5^th in class.

West Cork Rally

 

A small number of Monaghan competitors are entered for next weekend’s West Cork Rally, round 2 of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Sam and Josh Moffett are both on the entry list at No.4 and No.6 respectively. Stephen Wright is listed at No.9 in his Ford Fiesta R5. John McQuaid/James McCarville are at No.42 in their Mk2 Escort and Mac Kierans is navigating for Brendan McDaid at no. 65. Full Report on their progress next week.

Upcoming Events:

March 21^st Donegal Forestry Rally

March 21^st Monaghan Navigation Trial

March 22^nd Cavan Autocross

March 29^th Midland Stages Rally

April 3^rd/4^th Circuit of Ireland Rally

April 12^th Munster Forestry Rally