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Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin overcame challenging conditions to seal a 38.1-second victory on the Galway International Rally in their Ford Fiesta Rally2. 

Cronin was in top form to resist a mid-rally challenge from 2023 Irish Tarmac Champions Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan. 

Cronin, who hasn’t competed in Galway since 2016, set the benchmark time of the Samdec Security International runners on a slippery 12.3-kilometre Kilcoona opener. Cronin was 1.2 seconds faster than Sam Moffett and James O’Reilly through Galway’s first stage as usual Irish Tarmac frontrunners, Callum Devine and Josh Moffett, encountered early issues. 

Somehow, Devine managed to set the third-fastest time on Galway’s first stage despite struggling to hear his co-driver Noel O’Sullivan over intercom interference. Josh Moffett, with Andy Hayes on the notes finished stage one in fourth but was grimacing after his new Citroen C3 Rally2 was bottoming out over some severe Galway bumps and jumps. 

Matt Edwards’ Galway International Rally debut came to a devastating early end on stage two. His Fiesta slid wide into a bank and clipped a rock on a slippery Caherlistrane right-hander. Steering damage meant the three-time British Rally Champion had to retire from fifth position. 

The roads had started to dry in Galway’s countryside but the winter muck made the conditions as treacherous as ever. 

Sam Moffett slipped from fourth to fifth on the 12.7-kilometre Kilbeg test. His Hyundai stalled under braking, pushing him into a wall. Thankfully for the 2017 Irish Tarmac Champion, it was a relatively gentle nudge with his Hyundai able to complete the loop albeit losing over 30 seconds to the leaders. 

Overnight rain made for difficult rallying conditions on Sunday morning. Cronin used all his experience to find the perfect balance of speed and safety to grab a hat-trick of stage wins. 

Cronin held a 31.9-second lead over Devine with two stages remaining and was able to cruise home to take a dream result on ITRC’s opener. 

The battle for third, and top position in the new Citroen C3 Rally2 Trophy, was heating up on Sunday morning. 

Josh Moffett held a 6.4-second advantage over Desi Henry at the start of Sunday’s stages. As Moffett continued to learn how best to handle his new Citroen in the wet conditions, Henry knew he was in a prime position to pressurise. 

Despite a trip up a bank and pushing too hard on stage 12, Henry cut the gap to Moffett to 2.1 seconds with two Galway tests to go. 

Moffett upped his game on the drying roads setting a second- and first-fastest time. His podium position and €5,000 C3 Trophy prize were confirmed when Henry slipped wide on a square left junction on Galway’s finale. 

Sam Moffett would finish the rally seventh, just six seconds off fourth position. 

Brendan Cumiskey and Arthur Kierans finished 14th OA and won their class in the Rally3 Fiesta. While Galway is normally a challenging enough rally in itself, Kierans gave himself more of a task by driving home to Monaghan after the first day to drive the Drumlin Navigation Trial before returning to Galway for Sunday’s stages.

Frank Kelly, Rodney Wilton, and Conor Murphy found themselves in a three-way Ford Escort Mk2 fight for two-wheel-drive honours after Galway’s opening day of action. 

Murphy blitzed his opposition on Sunday’s Belleville opener, beating Kelly by 18.1 seconds on the 16.8-kilometre test. 

Wilton marked his intent on the next stage, taking his second stage win of the weekend. 2.5 seconds separated the trio of Escorts with three tests remaining. 

Disaster struck Murphy on Galway’s finale as his Escort’s engine pulled the pin at the end of the stage. The Kerry driver made it to the finish line but ended the rally a mere four seconds off last-minute winner Kelly. Wilton had to settle for third. 

Mickey Conlon and Domhnall Lennon took a start to finish victory in their Class 12 Escort, finishing 26th OA. 

Des Lyons and Aisling McArdle had been sitting 3rd in Class 11F but their rally ended after eight stages. 

Ireland’s young guns provided a top-quality battle in ITRC’s Rally4 category. Keelan Grogan and Ryan McHugh started as they meant to go – Grogan bettering the Donegal driver by a mere tenth of a second on stage one. 

Their duel lasted the length of the rally with last-minute drama settling the contest. 

A collision with a round bale would prove pivotal – Grogan’s Peugeot 208 Rally4 arrived at the end of the stage showing its war wounds. The resulting seven-second time loss was enough for McHugh to slip ahead and clinch his first Rally4 victory of the year. 

Joseph Kelly and Killian McArdle finished in third in a Peugeot 208. Cian Caldwell and Ryan Farrell had been sitting third in class after ten stages, but a terminal power steering issue ended their rally after Stage 12.

Gary Cassidy and Conor Mohan were the winners of Monaghan Motor Club’s 2024 Drumlin Navigation Trial, organised by Clerk of Course Ciaran Tynan and ACOC Michael Tynan. The Expert crew finished the Newbliss-based event on just three penalties. 

The Drumlin has a reputation of being a challenging event, and two consecutive plot and bashes after TP1 set the tone for the night. Only five crews would make it to TP4 in Analore with a clean sheet, with the majority of crews dropping a minute or two at one or both plot and bashes. 

The first road-goes of the night was used to drop off the main road and get a correct approach to TP5 at Gaelscoil Eois, where an overshoot could have meant a wrong approach. 

TP6 and TP7 brought the event towards Stonebridge and Gransha, where familiar territory of old railway, farm tracks and narrow lanes meant both driver and navigator had to be switched on to find the correct slots. This was also evident on TP8 where as crews left along narrow lanes for Aghabog, no one would make it without dropping at least a minute, even though the route was pre-plotted.

A relaxed section in Aghabog at TP12 gave some breathing space before the next plot and bash section. Leaving TP13, a route card with the plots to Via1 and Via2 was handed out, but attention had to be paid to the approach and departures, as well as remembering to visit pre-plotted TP14 and TP15 in between. Only one pairing, Arthur Kierans/Shane Maguire, would clean this section. Kierans showing that competing on the Galway International the same weekend was taking nothing out of him.

The route went along some more traditional navigation lanes south to Dartry, west towards Scotshouse and then east again to Doohat for the start of the ITC. The regularity section was short, but at 27mph, trickier than usual. It wasn’t long before the event got back up to speed however because the end of the ITC also marked a plot and bash section to find TP28. Via5 had to be avoided on the way, and then two wind farm lanes awaited crews to get to TP30. One final box tulip took in a usual farm in Corlougharoo before the last controls and back to Newbliss. 

By the end of the night, Derek Mackarel and Conor Boylan were close behind Cassidy/Mohan on five penalties, with Martin Tynan and David McCrudden third, a further point back. 

At the Acorn Centre, all marshals, timekeepers, officials, landowners and other volunteers. A special word of thanks was given to the Cavan results team who had the mastersheet published in record time, given the duration of the event. 

The event was a counting round of the National Navigation Trial Championship, the Squealing Pig Border Navigation Trial Championship and Monaghan Motor Club’s navigation and overall championships. 

The next round of the national championship is the 100 Isles navigation organised by Skibbereen & District Car Club on 10/11 February. 

Drumlin Navigation Trial class results.

1st Beginner: Shane and Eoghan Farrell (138 pens)

2nd Beginner: Ciaran Duffy and Ben Mohan (145 pens)

3rd Beginner: Pauric Duffy and Fintan Duffy (155 pens)

1st Novice: Ciaran and Aaron McGorman (12 pens)

2nd Novice: Shane and Molly Maguire (25 pens)

3rd Novice: Martin and Gretchen Swinburne (34 pens)

1st Semi-Expert: Declan Tynan and Aaron McElroy (11 pens)

2nd Semi-Expert: Damien Treanor and Christopher McMahon (33 pens)

3rd Semi-Expert: James Fitzgerald and Patrick Corcoran (34 pens)

1st Expert: Derek Mackarel and Conor Boylan (5 pens)

2nd Expert: Martin Tynan and David McCrudden (6 pens)

3rd Expert: Andy Mackarel and Greg Shinnors (9 pens)

1st Overall: Gary Cassidy and Conor Mohan (3 pens)

On a frozen lake on the outskirts of Dagali in Norway, a blue flash weaves through the snowbanks as a Nissan Almera GTi scrabbles for grip. Behind the wheel is 2023 Sligo Pallets Forest Championship Junior 1000 Champion Tommy Moffett, and he is here as part of a Prize Package funded by Craig Breen and the Foundation named in his honour.

For the young star, the trip is one of learning and development, with two days spent under the guidance of rally legend John Haugland at his world-famous Winter Rally School. Over his 50-year career, the Norwegian ace has seen countless stars of the sport pass through his Rally School, and Tommy Moffett can now proudly add himself to the illustrious list of pupils. 

One of the most famous recent stars who spent time at Haugland’s winter playground was Craig Breen, and it was through the prize package that he self-funded at the start of the 2023 season. Determined to make a real impact on the development of future Rally stars from a young age, Breen put together a €10,000 fund that would see every competitor benefit by way of vouchers throughout the season, and ultimately a driver development trip for the series champion. 

The Craig Breen Foundation aims to continue and build on the good work started by the Waterford driver in developing the path into top level rallying for young Irish competitors, while honouring his memory. With the support of Hyundai Motorsport, Sports&You, Hyundai Portugal, Hyundai Spain, Motorsport Ireland and the FIA, the foundation has committed to support the J1000 Championship for a minimum 5-year period from 2024 onwards. 

The foundation will initially see a total prize fund valued at over €35,000 made available for the 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship J1000s. 

This year’s winner, Moffett, was joined on the trip by his championship winning navigator Domhnall Lennon, as well as Tommy’s Brother and twice Irish Forest Rally Champion Josh. With the guidance of John Haugland, Domhnall & Josh, the trip was an incredible opportunity for Tommy to adapt to a more powerful FWD car as he prepares to make the step into a new machine this year, as well as to an all new surface. 

From the reports received back, the trip was a huge success with incredible amounts of seat time and practice put down, some great tuition from the legendary John Haugland and the only reported damage being from the elder Moffett leaving a Mitsibushi rear bumper in a snow bank (allegedly)! 

The 2024 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship kicks off on February 18th with the Castleisland, Co. Kerry based Killarney Forest Rally.

 

The 2024 National Endurance Trial Championship got under way with the ALMC Winter Endurance Trial being the first round of the series. Held at the familiar Luttrellstown Castle Resort, 33 crews tackled 16 selectives across Meath, Kildare and Dublin. 

Seeded first on the road as the 2023 event winners, Robert Howard and Claire Murtagh would go on to take another victory, but it would be a three-way race for the win right up until the end of the day. 

Graham O’Donoghue and William Kelly would eventually settle for 3rd OA, 16 seconds off top spot having led the event for five tests. Karl O’Donoghue and Evin Hughes had a slower start but quickly pulled back time and went into the final two selectives with a one second advantage. However they couldn’t hold Howard/Murtagh back. The final gap between first and second was just five seconds. 

Shane and Ciaran Maguire were the first non-Starlet finisher. They took 5th OA and 1st in the A2S Class in their Mitsubishi Colt. 

Andy Mackarel and Richard Cassidy took Class E honours in the Opel Ascona, just ahead of the Ford Focus of Class C winners Cathal McGlone and Michael Sheridan. Robert Graham and Caolan Treanor were second in that class in their navigation-spec Subaru.

The next round of the championship is the Galway Endurance Trial on 14 April.

Drumlin Navigation Trial 

Monaghan Motor Club’s Drumlin Navigation Trial takes place this weekend, 3/4 February. Clerk of Course Ciaran Tynan and Assistant COC Michael Tynan have an 85 mile route set out for competitors. Venue is the Acorn Centre in Newbliss. The event is a counting round of the club navigation and overall championships, the Squealing Pig Border Navigation Trial Championship and the National Navigation Trial Championship. Marshals are required and anyone available on the night is asked to contact COC Ciaran Tynan directly on 087-7827918.

Countdown to ITRC opener in Galway

The 2024 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship is buckled up for a thrilling opening round – the Galway International Rally. 

New contenders, returning champions, and familiar foes make up a blockbuster entry for the notoriously difficult two-day rally. 

Over 30 Rally2 cars are set to start the Samdec Security supported international series’ curtain raiser with reigning Irish Tarmac champions Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan opening the road as top seeds. 

Devine is yet to win in Galway and will have second seed and 2022 victor Josh Moffett breathing down his neck with Andy Hayes on the notes. Josh’s brother Sam, co-driven this weekend by James O’Reilly, made a solid start to his Irish Tarmac campaign 12 months ago with a third-place finish in Galway.

There could well be another Moffett duel in this latest edition of Irish Tarmac drama. The event will also mark the unveiling of the newly acquired Combilift Rallying Citroen C3 Rally2. 

Jonathan Greer, Desi Henry, and two-time Galway winner Garry Jennings are consistently competitive and will be bidding for top positions on round one. 

There will be two Ford Fiesta Rally2s, however, that Irish rally fans will be eager to see in action on the slippery Connacht stages. 

2016 Irish Tarmac and four-time British Champion Keith Cronin returns to Galway for the first time in eight years. Seeded third, there are fewer more talented than Cronin and one can be confident he will waste no time in getting up to speed. 

Seeded sixth, Wales’ Matt Edwards makes his first-ever Irish Tarmac bid after two years fighting for Donegal International honours. The three-time British Champion’s entry adds extra intrigue to what is a fascinating top ten. 

The grueling two-day event demands a balance of speed, bravery, and caution for crews as they thread their way through the stone wall-lined stages. 

Monaghan Motor Club will be represented throughout both the main field and modified sections of the rally.

Cork Motor Club hosted the 1,000 Shakes Navigation Trial, with COC Nial Murphy and team lining out a 110-mile route based north of Macroom at Aghinagh GAA. 

With the event being a counting round of the National Navigation Championship and Munster Navigation Trial Championship, there was local interest and much to play for. 

Expert crew James Fitzgerald and Ken Carmody were first on the road and after tallying the first two time cards, they were ahead of the rest of the pack on eight penalties. Pakie Duffy and Evin Hughes were the nearest challenger on ten penalties with Colin Duffy/Sam Johnston and Patsy McDonagh/Patrick Corcoran just further back on 14 penalties. 

Fitzgerald and Carmody would only drop a further two penalties on Card 3 leaving them on ten penalties. The Semi-Expert crew of Owen Murphy and Shane Maguire would be best of the rest on that card, dropping just 3 penalties going from 5th to 3rd overall before the final card. McDonagh/Corcoran had a strong sheet too, dropping four to move to 2nd Overall. Duffy/Hughes would drop 43 on Card 3 to put them out of contention for the overall win. 

Three crews –  Fitzgerald/Carmody, Murphy/Maguire and Alan Shinnors/Denis O’Donovan – would clean the final sheet, handing Fitzgerald/Carmody the win. 

McDonagh/Corcoran dropped six but had just enough to retain 2nd Overall and 1st Semi-Expert crew, finishing a single penalty ahead of Murphy/Maguire.

Colin Duffy and Sam Johnston went into the event provisionally leading the national series and left with 4th OA and 1st Expert. Duffy/Hughes recovered to take 5th OA and 2nd in Class. Ryan Farrell also made the trip down, sitting with Mark Phelan. They would take 7th OA and 3rd Semi-Expert. 

James and Ciaran French were top Novice and 9th OA, with David Beamish and Gary Kelleher rounding out the top ten as 1st Beginner. 

Monaghan Motor Club’s Drumlin Navigation Trial

Next on the calendar and takes place on 3 February.

It is a counting round of the National, Border and Club championships.