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The Premier Car Parts Dogleap Rally took place last weekend. The Maiden City Motor Club event was based in three separate forests between Claudy and Coleraine, ‘Loughermore Forest East’, ‘Loughermore Forest West’ and the ‘Cam Forest’.

On the six special stage event, Jack Casey and Ciara Duggan took their Volkswagen Up home in 41^st overall and 3^rd in Class 9.

In the Isle of Man, Kaine Treanor navigated Andrew Purcell to 2^nd overall onboard their Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.

Over in Austria, Conor Mohan was navigating for Eamonn Kelly on the Herbst Rallye 2025. The pair were using this event as a test session in preparation for the Junior World Rally Championship event, ‘Central European Rally’ (CER) which takes place on similar asphalt roads this weekend.

The Herbst rally also attracted two main drivers from the World Rally Championship as both Sébastian Ogier (Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT) and Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT) used this event to perfect their car set up for the CER.

On this eight special stage event, Eamonn and Conor brought their Ford Fiesta Rally3 home in 4^th place overall and 1^st in the RC3 class. Kelly/Mohan held 4^th place and 1^st in class from the end of SS1 the entire way to the finish. During the eight stages, they only failed to win a stage (in class) on three occasions, (SS3, SS5 and SS7) and took an 8.0s RC3 win over fellow JWRC competitors Ali Türkkan and Oytun Albayrak.

The County Monaghan Motor Club AGM will take place this Friday the 17th of October at 8pm in the Four Seasons Hotel Monaghan Town. Important items for discussion are the Ronnie Hawe Stages Rally 2026, Compulsory Competitor Marshalling, Rule Changes and member questions and discussion.

The Co. Monaghan Motor Club Annual awards night will take place in The Four Seasons Hotel on Sunday the 26th of October at 8pm. Tickets can be purchased from Committee members or through the Co. Monaghan Motor Club App. Michael Carbin is the winner if the 2024/25 overall club (Traders) championship. Michael finished the six round championship on a total of 07.2 points, 11.2 points better off than Andrew Mackarel who finished in 2^nd place. 3^rd place went to Aaron McElroy. In the Gary Nesbitt Club Navigation Championship, the outright winners were Conor Mohan and Michael Carbin. 2^nd place went to Evin Hughes/Pakie Duffy and 3^rd place went to Aaron McElroy/Declan Tynan. In the Beginner class, it was Darren Lavery/Aaron McGorman 1^st, Elijah Dixon/Abraham Dixon 2^nd and Dermot Mallon/Michael Conlon 3^rd. In the Novice class it was Ben Mohan/Damien Hagan 1^st, Adam Jordan/Aaron Dixon 2^nd and Eoghán Farrell/Peter Farrell 3^rd. In the Semi-Expert class, it was Adam Langan/Martin Swinburne 1^st, Gretchen Swinburne/Shane Maguire 2^nd and Molly Maguire/Cathal McGlone 3^rd. In the Expert class, it was Gregory Shinnors/Andrew Mackarel 1^st, Conor Boylan/Derek Mackarel 2^nd and Christopher McMahon/Martin Tynan 3^rd.

Oisín Sherlock

Birr & District Motor Club hosted the final round of the 2025 Skoda Parts Ireland National Endurance Championship last weekend.

The Birr Endurance Trial took place around the village of Camross in Co. Laois.

On the event, Evin Hughes navigating for Karl O’Donoghue finished in 8th overall after the eighteen selective event. They had been in 1st place after Selective 12, but dropped back to 10th on Selective 13. They remained in 10th until Selective 17, where they took 9th place. On the final selective of the event, they took their 8th place.

Andrew Mackarel and Richard Cassidy took their Opel Ascona home in 27th overall and 1st in Class E.

On Sunday night the ALMC Motor Club announced the cancelation of their rescheduled Winter Endurance Trial. The Winter Endurance Trial was originally postponed due to Storm Éowyn last January and had been rescheduled for October 11th.

The Navigation Trial season begins this weekend. Monaghan Motor Club host the first event.

Oisín Sherlock and Darragh Kelly have organised an eighty-mile event, based out of the Scotstown GAA Complex. The first competing crew will begin at 9pm on Saturday night and finish around 1am Sunday morning. As ever marshals are required for the smooth running of the event. Any available people are asked to contact Oisín and Darragh or any motor club member.
Oisín Sherlock.

The McKelvey Construction Bushwhacker Rally took place last weekend. The Omagh Motor Club organised event was the latest round in the 2025 Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship.

The event consisted of ten stages based in three separate forests in Co. Tyrone. The threes forests were, Killeter, Carrickaholten, and Lough Bradan.

Monaghan Motor Club member Patrick O’Brien alongside his brother Stephen took the overall win once again and made it five wins in a row on the ‘Whacker’.

The event got underway on Friday night with four special stages taking place under the cover of darkness. The 11.75km ‘Lough Braden’ special stage began the event, before a regroup in Castlederg followed by the 9.82km of ‘Killeter 1’, and the 8.29km of ‘Carrickaholten 1’. A second pass of the 11.75km ‘Lough Braden 2’ brough the opening Friday night to a finish. At the end of the opening four stages,

Patrick and Stephen held a 12.7s advantage over fellow Monaghan Motor Club member Cathan McCourt with Barry McNulty. Patrick and Cathan were competing in a pair of Škoda Fabia’s. Patrick in an R5 and Cathan in a RS Rally2 version.  The same stages were used on day two. Both ‘Lough Braden’ and ‘Carrickaholten’ were ran in reverse, while ‘Killeter’ was ran in the same direction but with a change to the middle and with a different finish.

At the end of Saturdays six special stages, Patrick and Stephen took a 1:57.6s victory over Conor McCourt and Caolan McKenna. Cathan and Barry were hampered late on with mechanical problems. Arthur Kierans guided Brendan Cumiskey to 9^th overall in a VW Polo R5. Derek Mackarel/Eamonn Creedan finished right behind them in 10^th overall. Gary McCrudden guided Alan Smyth 25^th overall in their Ford Escort MKII, and Paul McPhillips guided Cian Caldwell to 33^rd overall in their Peugeot 208 Rally4. Conor Boylan, navigating for Adam Semple retired on the final stage because of damage to the rear axle.

Co. Cavan Motor Club hosted a Loose Surface Autocross on Sunday in their venue at Hut-Cross at Latton.

Johno Doogan put in a late entry and took his Semog buggy home in 4^th place and 1^st in Class 7C.

Paul McPhillips, put his Bushwhacker adventure behind him and took his Speedcar buggy home in 10^th place.

Conor Boylan blew off the disappointment of retiring on the final stage on the Bushwhacker by taking his Semog buggy home in 13^th overall and 3^rd in Class 7A.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

 Oisín Sherlock.

Johno Doogan and his navigator Paul Lennon were the top placed Co. Monaghan Motor Club members on the GRP4 Fabrications Thomond Mini Stages Rally 2025, which took place last weekend. The Limerick Motor Club event consisted of three separate special stages; each ran twice for a total of six stages. Johno and Paul finished the event in 3^rd place overall (OA), in their Class 14 Ford Escort MKII.

John McQuaid and Thomas Treanor finished in 9^th place OA and 6^th in Class 14. Paul Kelly navigated Paul Purtill to 11^th OA and 1^st in Class 13.

Killian McArdle navigating for Michael Cahill finished the event in 6^th place, and 3^rd in class, but unfortunately, they were excluded from the results following a Stewards decision.

Domhnall Lennon navigating for Martin Toner failed to finish the event following an ‘Off’ on SS3. Despite the ‘off’ they lads hope to be back competing in Clare.

In the Munster Endurance Trial, Evin Hughes guided Karl O’Donoghue to 3^rd OA, 24s in arrears of the overall winners Danial Buckley/Conor Lennon. Karl and Evin were seeded Car 1, for this event.

Conor Boylan was competing in the 5^th round of the Buggy Ireland Championship last weekend. The 5^th round took place on the site of the former RAF Long Kesh (Maze, Lisburn). Conor took his Semog buggy home in 41^st position OA. Conor had an eventful day, as he was forced into a five-mile excursion in order to find a ‘man with welder’, following an argument with a fence which broke a part of the gear linkage.  Conor informed me that Thomas Wedlock has an excellent photo of him sitting on a rear wheel looking sad, as he waited for a tow back to the pits. 

Former members of Co. Monaghan Motor Club, Daniel McKenna and Andrew Grennan were competing in the recent ALMC Hellfire Stages Rally 2025. Daniel and Andrew took their iconic Ford Escort MKII (The same car in which they won the Monaghan Stages Rally 2012 in) home in 12^th OA and 1^st in Class 14.

You may remember the video of Daniels father Eamonn running and skipping up the road in Ballinode village on hearing the news that Daniel had won the Monaghan 2012 event. Daniel and Andrew plan to do the Cork 20 and Killarney Historic Rally before the years end.

 Navigation Classes

Monaghan Motor Club CLG will be holding Navigation Trial classes very soon for any person interested in beginning to compete in Motorsport, or would like a refresher course. The classes will last for five weeks and will conclude on the week of the first navigation event of the season. The first event will be hosted by Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG. More details will be available soon. Any interested persons can contact Ciaran Tynan on +353877827918 or email oisinsherlock97@gmail.com to register. Co. Monaghan Motor Club are hosting an Autotest event on Sunday September 7th. Regulations and Entry will be available very soon.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have just launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

Oisín Sherlock.

The McKelvey Construction Bushwhacker Rally took place last weekend.

The Omagh Motor Club organised event was the latest round in the 2025 Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship.

The event consisted of ten stages based in three separate forests in Co. Tyrone. The threes forests were, Killeter, Carrickaholten, and Lough Bradan.

Monaghan Motor Club member Patrick O’Brien alongside his brother Stephen took the overall win once again and made it five wins in a row on the ‘Whacker’.

event got underway on Friday night with four special stages taking place under the cover of darkness. The 11.75km ‘Lough Braden’ special stage began the event, before a regroup in Castlederg followed by the 9.82km of ‘Killeter 1’, and the 8.29km of ‘Carrickaholten 1’.

A second pass of the 11.75km ‘Lough Braden 2’ brough the opening Friday night to a finish. At the end of the opening four stages, Patrick and Stephen held a 12.7s advantage over fellow Monaghan Motor Club member Cathan McCourt with Barry McNulty. Patrick and Cathan were competing in a pair of Škoda Fabia’s. Patrick in an R5 and Cathan in a RS Rally2 version. 

The same stages were used on day two. Both ‘Lough Braden’ and ‘Carrickaholten’ were ran in reverse, while ‘Killeter’ was ran in the same direction but with a change to the middle and with a different finish. At the end of Saturdays six special stages, Patrick and Stephen took a 1:57.6s victory over Conor McCourt and Caolan McKenna. Cathan and Barry were hampered late on with mechanical problems. Arthur Kierans guided Brendan Cumiskey to 9^th overall in a VW Polo R5. Derek Mackarel/Eamonn Creedan finished right behind them in 10^th overall. Gary McCrudden guided Alan Smyth 25^th overall in their Ford Escort MKII, and Paul McPhillips guided Cian Caldwell to 33^rd overall in their Peugeot 208 Rally4. Conor Boylan, navigating for Adam Semple retired on the final stage because of damage to the rear axle.

Co. Cavan Motor Club hosted a Loose Surface Autocross on Sunday in their venue at Hut-Cross at Latton.

Johno Doogan put in a late entry and took his Semog buggy home in 4^th place and 1^st in Class 7C. Paul McPhillips, put his Bushwhacker adventure behind him and took his Speedcar buggy home in 10^th place. Conor Boylan blew off the disappointment of retiring on the final stage on the Bushwhacker by taking his Semog buggy home in 13^th overall and 3^rd in Class 7A.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG, have launched a new club App. The App will be the go-to location for all your motor club information. To download the App, just search ‘Monaghan Motor Club’ on your ‘Android’ or Apple’ device’s, App store. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

 Oisín Sherlock.