Author: monaghanmotorclub

For the first time since March 2020, closed road rallying returned to the Island of Ireland with the Cork 20 Rally on September 19^th and the Donegal Harvest Rally on October 3^rd. Some competitors had made the trip to the UK in search of events but now they can compete at home. As always, Monaghan crews would be among the first to return to the stages.

The 9 stage Cork 20 rally was the first closed road rally of the year. Callum Devine/Brian Hoy would emerge victorious. Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty topped the Monaghan crews in 3^rd place overall. Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes finished 21 seconds behind in 4^th. Stephen Wright/Ger Conway took 7^th overall. In the National Rally, Richard Moffett/Darragh Kelly finished in 4^th place in their Starlet and Jack Maguire/Stephen McElroy came home 15^th overall.

On the 6 stage Donegal Harvest Rally, top club finisher was James O’Reilly who navigated Declan Boyle to 2^nd overall. The pair had been in a close fought battle with Callum Devine/Brian Hoy throughout the event but it was the Derry driver who edged the event by 9.8 seconds. The damp conditions made things tricky with Boyle/O’Reilly surviving a lurid moment when they slipped into a drain which only resulted in the loss of the rear spoiler. Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty secured 3^rd place in their Ford Fiesta R5, 46 seconds adrift of the winners after six stages. Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes finished in 5^th place in his Hyundai after climbing the leaderboard after being 8^th after stage 1. Niall Maguire/Conor Foley brought their Subaru WRC to 9^th place. Michael Carbin/Darragh Kelly put in an impressive showing to finish 12^th overall and take class 20 honours.

Brendan Cumisky/Lorcan Moore finished 16^th overall in their Skoda. Arthur Kierans steeped in alongside Gary Jennings. The pair were fighting for the lead in the early stages holding 2^nd after stage 2. It all went wrong when they slipped off at the same spot as Boyle but they got stuck and lost three minutes leaving them down in 20^th place. Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan made a welcome return to the stage for the first time in six years and took their old Escort home in 21^st place. Kaine Treanor guided Limerick driver Chris O’Callaghan to 24^th overall and 1^st in class 13. Seamus Connolly/Gary McCrudden were once again the class 11R winners in 34^th overall. Oisin Sherlock guided Sean McConnell to 74^th place while Gerard & Gavin McGivney took 85^th overall. In the Junior class, Jack McKenna/John McCabe finished in 4^th.

There a further events this year planned in Wexford, Tipperary and Kerry whilst Monaghan Motor Club plan to host the first Navigation Trial since March 2020 on the 13^th November.

MON, 31 MAY, 2021 – 20:49MARTIN WALSH

Moving into the lead on the penultimate stage, the Monaghan/Limerick duo of Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty (Ford Fiesta R5 Mk II) went on to win the Neil Howard Memorial Rally, the opening round of the British Rally Championship at Oulton Park on Monday.

They finished a second ahead of the similar car of Rhys Yates/James Morgan with Osian Pryce/Noel O’Sullivan (VW Polo R5) a further seven seconds behind in third.

A mere two seconds covered the top four after the morning’s seven-mile stage as Frank Bird topped the time sheets, two seconds clear of defending champion Matt Edwards, Rhys Yates and Pryce.

Moffett was next and headed the Irish challenge — seven seconds off the lead. Several competitors got a notional time when Nigel Worswick’s Ford Fiesta S2000T blocked the stage.

There was little between the leading contenders through the next three stages as Bird maintained a slender lead. By S.S. 4, he was six seconds ahead of Yates and Edwards, who shared second. Pryce and Moffett followed, the latter was much closer to the leader on S.S. 5 and posted the best stage time on S.S. 6. 

It was even better for the Monaghan man as Bird spun and Edwards incurred a 10-second penalty for failing to slow after the flying finish board.

Yates became the new rally leader with Moffett only a second behind as Pryce, Bird and Edwards completed the top five.

On the penultimate stage, Moffett edged two seconds ahead of Yates with Bird and Pryce still very much in contention, the latter just seven seconds behind Moffett. Edwards and Desi Henry rounded out the top six. 

On the final stage, Moffett did enough to claim the spoils. 

There was also Irish success in the Junior category won by William Creighton/Liam Regan (Ford Fiesta).

To all club members past and present, we hope you are keeping well and that we may soon see some opening of restrictions for our sport. In the meantime, County Monaghan Motor Club are organising a ‘Litter Pick’ event over the course of the weekend 21^st to 23^rd May. This event will of course follow all the necessary and current HSE guidelines as expected and will broadly function as follows.

Basically, we want YOU to organise a small litter pick team of max 4 persons. Each team will select a suitable day and time over the course of the weekend to gather litter on their own road or surrounding roads – all under the banner of Monaghan Motor Club. We can provide our marshal bibs for your team and hope you will wear these and promote our club in this activity throughout your local community.

In the absence of our Motorsport events since March 2020, we as volunteers – either as marshals, officials or competitors, have not been afforded the opportunity to collectively meet up. However, this litter pick event might give us some opportunity of hope by partaking remotely in small teams and outside in the open. By doing so, we know that we still stand together in our interests, continue to volunteer, and can overcome these unforeseen obstacles and work together again.

Please make contact with myself so we can organise the litter bags, pickers and collection of same.  We thank you once again for your continued support and look forward to meeting again in person when the time is right.

Yours in motorsport

Conor Maguire

Chairman

County Monaghan Motor Club

086 1677446

12 months on and we are still in the same situation in relation to COVID-19 restrictions in our sport.

It’s very strange and who would ever have predicted it, and indeed there are still unknowns for the
year ahead. However, there are most certainly more positive times ahead, and we must look
forward to these with a new energy particularly with the ongoing roll out of the vaccine throughout
our communities.

In 2020 we only managed to run one single MI permitted event – our January Navigation Trial, as all
other events were postponed and subsequently cancelled in line with HSE guidelines. In contrast to
this, we introduced a new discipline into the club in the form of Virtual Navigation Trials. Our club
organised 2 such events – one in April and another in October.

Both were exceptionally well supported and indeed have continued to grow in popularity.

2020 will also stay in our thoughts as in November we lost our friend Ronnie Hawe – a dedicated
Club organiser and administrator. For more than five decades Ronnie was involved in Monaghan
Motor Club and was the driving force behind the growth and development of our events –
particularly our annual Stages Rally.

In normal times, we would currently be busy preparing for our annual stages rally and Ronnie would be organising and mentoring us all for the task ahead.

We will remember him dearly.

To date in 2021 – and restrictions still in place, we have organised two Virtual Navigation Trials with
another one planned for mid-April and possibly more to follow. No other MI permitted events can
be secured at this time and we will continue to take guidance and direction from the HSE and
Motorsport Ireland in relation to when the individual disciplines might get started again.

As a result, all club championships are suspended until further notice.

We still have a very active Motor Club committee, who have continued to meet virtually each month
to discuss any changes in HSE guidelines and what measures we must consider going forward when
restrictions are eased.

Our current (2020) committee has agreed to continue until we resume normal activities and convene our AGM.

Our Club Membership fee has been reduced until the end of April and is available to submit digitally through our web site and Facebook page.

Looking forward, we wish all our members, supporters, sponsors and friends well for the year ahead
and hopefully we will resume our sport in the not too distant future.

Conor Maguire
Chairman
Monaghan Motor Club

As we lined both sides of the road from his home to the church on Thursday last to pay respect to Ronne Hawe, we were conscious that what we were witnessing, was the reality of the funeral of the driving force of Monaghan Motor Club for more than five decades. He was the public face of the club for most of that time and his influences reached into every aspect of the sport locally.

Ronnie’s involvement in the sport started first in the Karting Club. In 1968 the Karting Club by mutual agreement and in order to maintain links between the two clubs appointed two delegates from the Karting Club on the understanding that they would automatically become directors of CMMC at their next AGM. Ronnie being one of the two delegates has been re-elected ever since.

He was Clerk of the Course of the major karting race meetings of 1968 and 1969. However, he took the Monaghan Motor Club by surprise when, along with Malcolm Totten as navigator, they took their Sunbeam Stiletto to 5^th overall on the 1969 Circuit of Monaghan Rally. This was their first ever rally and they succeeded in winning all the local awards for this event – the George Cannon Trophy and also the best novice crew from County Monaghan. Ronnie went on to compete in local and national rallies throughout the sixties, seventies and eighties culminating in winning the National Navigation Rally Championship in 1989. At the same time during those years, he was immersed in the organisation for the club: Clerk of the Course for the Daylight Stages Rally in 1972 and 1973: Clerk of the Course for the Forestry Rally in 1982, for the Multi Stages Rally 1986-1992 consecutively and then Deputy Clerk of the Course for over ten years.

Since 1968 Ronnie has never been far away from the centre of activities within the club and his valued input has been continuous and immense since. It is to his influences, decision making, force of personality and integrity with which we have come to identify him most of all. He was a constant in the life of the club. No matter what the prevailing negatives might be, socially, politically or functionally he resolutely stood by the theory that a way must be found. His instincts were always geared to his vision of growing the club and adapting to the ever changing demands of the time. In recent years this is reflected in his son Lee-Ron input into the ongoing promotion of the club and its activities through technology and social media channels.

When he came into the club in the late sixties the sport was small, leisurely and largely unregulated. Now the demands of health and safety, professionalism and regulation means the pressures are considerable. He oversaw all that and more. Image building and selling the club in the community were so important to him and today we reap the rewards from his foresight. In summary he was a tireless worker as organiser, administrator, competitor and promotor. A quotation from one of the present directors of the club speaks accurately – “We will miss Ronnie’s experience, candour and willingness to safeguard Club interests above his personal popularity or gain. Never faltered on tough decisions and told it as it was. Thank you Ronnie and respect”. Indeed he could be irascible and direct but again this was born of his push for the highest standards for everyone involved.

Throughout his many decades of achievements and commitments in the club, he and Cora were a team in everything. As an administrator Cora was unequalled. She was highly skilled, highly qualified and indefatigable in everything she did for the club. Between them they were the backbone of the club in its growth and many successes. Before a major event it was not unknown for Ronnie and Cora to be labouring away until the small hours getting everything ready for the next day.

In more recent years Ronnie’s health deteriorated and he spent periods in hospital. Despite undergoing many medical procedures he never lost his interest and enthusiasm. He astounded many of us by the way he could bounce back. Again this was born of his abiding determination to never give up. A lesser person would have walked away from the pressures of such involvement.

The Monaghan Motor Club will miss Ronnie across many fronts but all this is nothing to the loss he is to Cora, Lee-Ron and Samantha and to the extended family circle. To all we offer our sympathy. He was a motor sport enthusiast but above all he was a family man. May he rest in peace.