Author: monaghanmotorclub

Monaghan Motor Club members were again well represented at the annual National Rally Championship awards ceremony. Triton Showers were in their first season as sponsors on what was a successful year for the championship. Niall Maguire & Enda Sherry were once again at the sharp end of the series, finishing in a fine 2^nd place overall. Niall is a past three time winner and has multiple runner-up and 3^rd place finishes over the years. His son, Shane competes in the Group N category and finished 3^rd in class after an up and down season. Michael Carbin & Emmet McCooey took class 20 honours completing a Border and National championship double. Seamus Connolly & Gary McCrudden were class 11R champions. Jim McKenna placed third in class 14.

Cork Star-Trek Navigation Trial

A number of Monaghan crews made the trip to Shanballymore, North Cork for round two of the National Night Navigation Championship. Sean Daly organised an 80 mile route including some classic forestry lanes used on the Cork Forestry Rally. Best Monaghan crew on the night were Ciaran Sheridan & Conor Boylan who were a terrific 5^th overall and 1^st in the Novice class. Keith McConnan & Micheal McCluskey were 6^th overall and 1^st in the Semi-Expert class continuing their fine start to the year. Aaron Duffy/Laurence Keenan came home 8^th overall. Defending champions, Pakie Duffy & Evin Hughes were a disappointing 12^th overall after an issue at TP7. Aiden Sherry & Oisin Sherlock came home 13^th overall and 4^th in the Novice class. Colm Mohan & Conor Mohan were unfortunate to retire after getting stuck aiding another competitor.

Billy Coleman Award

The club wishes the best of luck to Josh Moffett who has been named as one of the finalists for the 2015 Billy Coleman Award. The prize which is worth €50,000 to the winner is awarded to the best young rally driver in Ireland. Josh who was also a finalist last year, had another exceptional year. He won the Irish Forestry Championship outright, took 3^rd overall placing on the Circuit of Ireland, a round of the European Championship and claimed overall victory on this year’s Monaghan stages rally. Josh will now join Rob Duggan & Patrick O’Brien on the final shortlist. The winner will be announced at the Champions of Irish Motorsport awards on December 2^nd.

Dinner Dance & Prizegiving

The annual Monaghan Motor Club Dinner Dance & Prizegiving takes place on Friday night, December 4^th. The event will see the club celebrate the success of their competitors at both National & International level in 2015. Some of the most notable successes includes Josh Moffett & Jason McKenna winning the Irish Forestry Championship, Niall Maguire & Enda Sherry taking runners-up in the National Championship, Shane Maguire winning the West Coast Championship and Evin Hughes winning the National Night Navigation Championship. Damien Connolly is the overall club champion for 2015, clinching the coveted Trader’s trophy for a third successive year, while Mickey and Ciaran Tynan are the club navigation champions. Tickets are available from committee members.

Monaghan Motor Club was well represented on Wales Rally GB, the final round of the 2015 World Rally Championship. Leading Monaghan interest were Clontibret brothers Josh & Sam Moffett driving two Ford Fiesta WRCs. John Rowan and Karl Atkinson were navigating respectively. Monaghan’s James O’Reilly joined forces with Marty McCormack in their Skoda Fabia S2000 and reigning British Champion, Arthur Kierans from Aghabog teamed up with Billy Coleman award winner, Dean Raftery. Castleblayney man Pauric Duffy & Kevin Glynn were also contesting the event in their R5 Fiesta.

The Rally is well known for its tricky muddy conditions and this year’s event was no exception. Josh & Sam played themselves in on day 1 which included classic stages at Hafren, Sweet Lamb and Myherin. There was little to separate the pair with Josh 36 seconds ahead at the end of the day. There was big disappointment for McCormack/O’Reilly who retired on stage 3 when the alternator failed. Dean Raftery/Arthur Kierans’s rally also came to an end on stage three. Pauric Duffy/Kevin Glynn made steady progress to 35^th overnight.

A further seven stages were contested on Saturday including two stages in darkness. Josh & Sam continued to make steady progress and finished the day in 16^th and 17^th place respectively. McCormack/O’Reilly re-joined under Rally 2 and set some encouraging stage times despite a puncture including a top 20 time on stage 11. Duffy/Glynn retired on stage 8 but would re-join on Sunday.

The final day consisted of four short stages. Both Moffett brothers brought their cars home safely. Josh & John Rowan were an excellent 14^th overall holding off a late charge from Sam who took 15^th place just 13.2 seconds behind after over 3 hours of driving. Marty McCormack/James O’Reilly recovered to 45^th overall setting another top 20 time on the final stage. Pauric Duffy/Kevin Glynn completed the Sunday stages to secure 51^st overall.

Shane Maguire clinched his third West Coast Rally Championship title a fortnight ago on the Kerry Mini Stages Rally. The championship consisted of six events in Birr, Kerry, Limerick, Galway and Clare. Shane was among four drivers in contention going into the final round. His main rival on the day, Ed O’Callaghan was sidelined on stage two after an off. This left Shane requiring a top four points finish which he secured as well as the Group N category. Shane would like to thank his service crew, sponsors and his navigators Paul McLoughlin and Mac Kierans for their support throughout the year.

Josh Moffett & Jason McKenna became the first Monaghan crew since 1991 to win the Valvoline Irish Forestry Championship, clinching the title at the final round, the Glens Forestry Rally on Saturday last. The Limavady-based event was the conclusion of the battle between the Monaghan crew and Michael O’Brien/Liam Brennan. Former champion O’Brien in his Ford Focus WRC led on points starting the rally but Moffett/McKenna were in pole position on dropped scores in their Evo 9.

The Glens rally comprised two classic stages run 3 times each. Needing to win the rally to secure the title, O’Brien through down the gauntlet with a great run through the opening stage to take 2^nd overall behind last year’s Glens winner Desi Henry. Josh and Jason were languishing in 8^th, partly due no doubt to Josh not being on the pace, having attended his grandmother’s funeral on the previous day. However, the Monaghan pair eventually recovered to slot into 4^th place overall, despite a puncture four miles from the end of stage 4. By the start of the final stage, O’Brien was in 2^nd with the Combilift crew in 4^th, it was going to be a straight shoot-out between them. With nothing to lose, O’Brien went for it but ran wide on a corner and retired his Focus on a bank. Josh and Jason finished in a steady 4^th place overall to secure the title.

The Monaghan pair have been at the forefront of the Forestry championship for the last couple of years, narrowly losing out to Owen Murphy last year. They follow in the footsteps of Clones men Andy Mackarel & Damien Courtney who won the championship in its first year.

Michael Carbin & Darragh Kelly put in an impressive drive to take 6^th overall and 2^nd in class. Emmet Sherry guided Tommy O’Connell to 32^nd overall. James O’Reilly was navigating for Martin McCormack as a shakedown for next weekend’s Rally GB.  Their event came to an end on stage 3. Michael Conlon & Ciaran McPhillips retired on the final loop, but still finished 4^th overall in the championship. Derek Mackarel/Daire Hayes also retired but were 3^rd in the Junior category in the championship. Alan Atchenson/Mac Kierans, Damien McGuaren/Michaela McGinn, and Paul Clarke/James McCarville all failed to finish on what was a tough event for man and machine.

Tynans Triumph on the Drumlin

Michael and Ciaran Tynan claimed back to back drumlin night navigation victories last Saturday night on the infamous Monaghan Motor Club event based in Ballybay. COC Evin Hughes and his team laid on a mammoth route which saw 60 time controls over a 110 mile route through the rolling drumlins of mid-Monaghan. Hardly a lane or by-road was missed from Swans Cross to the outskirts of Castleblaney and beyond. This event was the first round of the National & Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championship and the last counting round of the Gary Nesbitt Club Navigation Championship.

The first of 32 starters left Pearse Bros GAA complex, Ballybay at 9.01pm in dry weather conditions. As early as time point 2 all crews were under pressure, dropping minutes as only two expert crews of Trevor Farrell/Noel Hall and Rory Coyle/Ciaran Coyle managed to keep a clean sheet to time point 6. Some tricky plot and bash sections from tp 17-20 saw all crews drop time with Derek Mackarel and Cork woman, Muireann Hayes taking over the lead, dropping only 1 penalty through this passage of the event. The latter time points of the first half also saw all crews drop time as the event moved swiftly through some great farm lanes in the Nart, Swans Cross area before a well earned petrol halt in Rockcorry. Donegal brothers, Rory and Ciaran Coyle were having a good night, holding the lead at the petrol halt with a 2 penalty advantage over Mackarel/Hayes (8pens) with the Tynans in 3rd place on 10pens.

The second half picked up where the first had left off with any little mistakes sure to be punished. The event move eastwards through Latton and Aghnamullen before winding its way back towards Ballybay after almost 5 hours of competition. Time points 45-48 ultimately turned out to decide the winners as some very tricky plot and bash proved difficult to negotiate. Event leaders Rory and Ciaran Coyle missed two time points through this section which knocked them off top spot. Michael and Ciaran Tynan dropped 6 minutes through these time points to move into the lead where they would remain until the end. This result ensured the Clones/Newbliss pairing also lifted the 2015 Gary Nesbitt Club Navigation Championship for the first time.

Novice pairing of Keith McConnon and Michael McCluskey had a great run to 2nd overall on what was a very difficult night for novice and beginner crews. Trevor Farrell and Noel Hall also upped the ante on the night to take 3rd place and the expert class win ahead of Fintan Larmer and Sean McCaffery in 2nd with Donegal brothers Rory and Ciaran Coyle 3rd. John Kelly and Jonathan McGovern gave a great account of themselves in the semi-expert category with a class win and a fine 5th overall finish. Michael Carbin and Darragh Kelly were 2nd in the semi class ahead of Peter Farrell and Arthur Kierans. Arthur decided to try the navigator’s seat for the night and proved he is not just a good navigator on the stages but can also read a map! McConnon/McCluskey took the novice award with their 2nd place overall which left Colm and Conor Mohan in 2nd Novice and Emmet McCooey and Conor Boylan 3rd. On a tough night for beginners it was Patrick Connolly and Stephen McElroy who just pipped Mark Sheridan and Craig McPhillips for class honours by a mere 4 penalties. 3rd beginner went to Caolan and Ryan Treanor.

So that’s the Drumlin Navigation over for another year and the National and Squealing Pig Border Navigation Championships up and running. Well done to Evin Hughes and his assistant Packie Duffy and their many helpers for a great event. Evin would like to thank the many residents and land owners along the route for their support. He also extends a big thank you to the huge numbers of marshals who turned out, the results teams, Ballybay GAA complex, PR teams and everyone else who helped out in any way, big or small.

Drumlin Navigation Trial Top 10

1/ Michael Tynan/Ciaran Tynan (Subaru Impreza) 21 marks 2/ Keith McConnon/Micheal McCluskey (Subaru Impreza) 40m 3/ Trevor Farrell/Noel Hall (Subaru Impreza) 64m 4/ Fintan Larmer/Sean McCaffrey (Subaru Impreza) 67m 5/ John Kelly/Jonathan McGovern (Subaru Impreza) 71m 6/ Rory Coyle/Ciaran Coyle (Subaru Impreza) 77m 7/ Gregory McQuillan/Conor Maguire (Subaru Impreza) 91m 8/ Derek Mackarel/Muireann Hayes (Subaru Impreza) 93m 9/ Mickey Carbin/Darragh Kelly (Subaru Impreza) 111m 10/ Dermot Whelton/Mark McCarthy (Subaru Impreza) 155m 11/ Colm Mohan/Conor Mohan (Subaru Impreza) 160m 12/ Emmet McCooey/Conor Boylan (Subaru Impreza) 169m

Maguire clinches West Coast Championship

Shane Maguire clinched the West Coast Rally Championship for a third time. The Banna Beach-based Kerry Mini Stages Rally last Sunday was the final round of the championship. Shane adopted a steady approach needing a decent finish to secure the title. He and co-driver Paul McLaughlin made steady progress from 20^th place after stage 1 to 11^th overall and 1^st in Group N by the day’s end. This was enough to secure Shane’s 3^rd West Coast Championship success, a championship that his father Niall is also a previous winner of.

Elsewhere, Paul Kelly teamed up with Limerick’s Paul Purtill and they finished 8^th overall and 3^rd in class 13. . Martin Connolly guided Liam Bowhan to 14^th overall and 5^th in class 13. Anthony Hand with Ella Ryan on the notes secured 18^th overall and 1^st in class 11R.