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Michael Carbin and Ben Mohan were the top placed crew at the end of the Co. Monaghan Motor Club, Endurance Trial last weekend.

The event counted as Round 4 of the County Monaghan Motor Club Championship, and Round 4 of the Skoda Parts Ireland, Motorsport Ireland National Endurance Championship.

Michael and Ben took their Subaru Legacy home as the fastest crew throughout the trial’s twenty selectives. A feat that secured them the class C win and maximum Monaghan Motor Club Championship (Traders Championship) points. Although Michael and Ben on paper won the event, as they weren’t competing in an Endurance specification car, they were ineligible to place in the overall positions. 1^st place instead went to Graham O’Donoghue/Kevin Fagan; 2^nd place went to TJ O’Brien/Paul Reilly, and 3^rd went to Darragh Mullen/Aideen Lynch.

The overall positions were filled by a trio of crews competing in Toyota Starlet’s, built to Endurance specification.  

Garry Farrelly, assisted by Michael Sheridan and Sam Patterson once again organised this year’s event, with the event headquarters at the Aughnamullen GAA grounds in Tullynanegish. Garry and his team organised twenty selectives in the area between Scotch Corner, Latton, Broomfield, Corduff and Lisdoonan.

The event was divided into two sections. Section 1 consisted of eleven selectives before a lunch and refuel break at McCaugheys services in Broomfield. Section 2 took place in the afternoon following the lunch break, and consisted of nine selectives. Section 1’s selectives were all based between, Lough Egish, Latton and Scotch Corner, while Section 2’s selectives were all based around Corduff Cross and Lisdoonan.

In the classes, Karl O’Donoghue/Evin Hughes finished 1^st in class A2M, and Owen Murphy/Patrick O’Sullivan finished 2^nd in the same class. In class A2E, Darren Moore/Liam Tuomey finished 1^st. In class A2S, Ernest Alford/Darragh Gannon took 1^st and Martin Nugent/Paul Tiernan took 2^nd. In class A2N, the father/son team of Sean and Caolain McCaffrey finished 1^st. In class A2B, Daniel Buckley/Conor Lennon took 1^st, Timmy Lynch/Stephen O’Neill took 2^nd and Aidan Dennehy/Gerard O’Connor finished 3^rd. In class A1, Frank Byrnes/Sophie Byrnes finished 1^st, Gerard and Luke of Reilly took 2^nd and John O’Sullivan/ Noreen Stanley finished 3^rd. In class B, Dominic Loughran/Oscar Mangan finished 1^st in their Suzuki Swift, Geoffrey Conboy/Luke Gallagher took 2^nd and David Forde/Patrick O’Leary finished 3^rd. In class C, Michael Carbin/Ben Mohan finished 1^st, Martin Tynan/Oisín Sherlock took 2^nd and Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy finished 3^rd in that navigation specification car class.

A standout performance on the day, was that of Aaron McGorman and Darren Lavery. McGorman/Lavery were the fastest competing crew after Selective 16 onboard their Subaru Impreza, and they had a reasonably comfortable lead of 14s in class C. Unfortunately for the pair, a driveshaft broke on their Impreza, taking off from the start line on Selective 17 ‘Courtneys 2’, this driveshaft failure spelled immediate retirement. Luckily for them, (if there is such a thing), they had completed the minimum distance required before the retirement (App 35, 16.9). This minimum distance requirement qualified them to receive a maximum time penalty on each of the remaining four selectives (App 35, 19.22.2), so they still qualified as finishing the event, but they now were down in 10^th in class C and 30^th fastest crew throughout the day.

After the awards were presented to all the winners, the Clerk of the Course, Garry Farrelly and the overall winning team, thanked all the landowners for allowing the event to use their property, and the plethora of marshals who came to man each selective of the event. Garry further thanked the Aughnamullen GAA club for the excellent facilities, and everyone who helped him set up the mammoth event, including his deputies Michael Sheridan and Sam Patterson. He also gave a big thank you to local man, Owen Connolly, for his tireless effort in helping to get everything in order and available on the day of the event.  His assistance is very much appreciated.

Top 10 at Finish

1. Michael Carbin/Ben Mohan (Subaru Legacy) 5:23,

2. 1^st, Grahan O’Donoghue/Kevin Fegan (Toyota Starlet) 5:32,

3. 2^nd, TJ O’Brien/Paul Reilly (Toyota Starlet) 5:35,

4. Martin Tynan/Oisín Sherlock (Subaru Impreza) 6:05,

5. 3^rd, Darragh Mullen/Aideen Lynch (Toyota Starlet) 6:26,

6. 4^th, Karl O’Donoghue/Evin Hughes (Toyota Starlet) 7:10,

7. Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy (Subaru Impreza) 7:10,

8. Trevor O’Callaghan/Susan Smyth (Subaru Impreza) 7:18,

9. Dominic Loughran/Oscar Mangan (Suzuki Swift) 7:18,

10. Geoffrey Conboy/Luke Gallagher (Toyota Starlet) 7:23.

Rally Finland

Conor Mohan was navigating for Eamonn Kelly in Finland over the weekend. Conor and Eamonn were competing in the HYAcenter Ralli 2025, in preparation for the Junior World Rally Championship event, Secto Rally Finland, which takes place this weekend.

Conor and Eamonn, had a fantastic event and were able to get a good car set up and practice ahead of the upcoming ‘World Event’. The Irish pair finished this event in 2^nd place overall, a tiny 0.3s in arrears of Ali Türkkan/Oytun Albayrak, showing just how tight the racing was on the super-fast undulating Finnish gravel roads.

Conor will be joined this coming weekend by fellow Monaghan Motor Club member, Killian McArdle. Killian will be navigating for John Coyne on Secto Rally Finland in a Ford Fiesta Rally3, similar to the one that Conor and Eamonn will be in. Both Conor and Killian will be competing in the event under the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy umbrella.

Imokilly Mini-Stages

Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon took their Ford Escort MKII to 3^rd place overall on the Imokilly Mini-Stages Rally last weekend. The pair finished just 9.1s in arrears of the overall winners James Stafford/Richard Cleary who were in a Darrian T90 GTR. Unfortunately, David Moffett/Martin Connolly retired after SS4.

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.

Paul Barrett and Darragh Kelly were the top placed Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG members at the finish of the Sligo Stages Rally last weekend. Paul and Darragh took their Citroën C3 Rally2 home in 6^th place overall (OA). The Connacht Motor Club event counted as Round 5 of both the 2025 Triton Showers Motorsport Ireland National Rally Championship and the 2025 Dacia Sandero Challenge Cup.  The Sligo based event was also Round 3 of the 2025 Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship and the 2025 Top Part West Coast Rally Championship.

Pierce O’Callaghan navigated Aaron McIntyre to 10^th overall and 1^st in class 14 onboard their Toyota Starlet. The Class 14 win also came with the accolade of being the fastest 2wd crew throughout the day. Killian McArdle guided Michael Cahill to 16^th OA and 3^rd in Class 14. There would be a three in a row of Co. Monaghan Motor Club finishers up soon after, as Ryan Farrell took Stephen Faughnan to 18^th OA and 3^rd in Class 13, Paul McPhillips guided Cian Caldwell to 19^th OA and 2^nd in Class 2, and the father and daughter team of Niall and Molly Maguire took their stunning Subaru Impreza S12B home in 20^th OA and 1^st in Class 7.  Raymond Conlon and Gavin Doherty finished 23^rd OA in their Toyota Corolla. Michael Conlon and Adam Langan finished 25^th OA and 1^st in Class 12 in their Ford Escort MKII. Tommy Moffett/Michael Ward finished 27^th OA and 3^rd in Class 2. Jack Maguire/Keith McConnon finished 40^th OA and 3^rd in Class 11F. Paul Kelly guided Paul Purtill to 51^st OA. Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes finished 66^th OA and 2^nd in Class 3. The father and son team of Peter and Eoghán Farrell took their Toyota Corolla home in 78^th OA and 7^th in Class 10.

Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty unfortunately retired on SS1, James McCarville/Arthur Kierans retired after the same stage, and James McEneaney navigating for Brian Bolger retired after SS3. Nigel Brennan/Paddy McCague retired after SS6.

The 2025 Co. Monaghan Motor Club Endurance Trial takes place this weekend.

The event has been organised by Garry Farrelly, assisted by Michael Sheridan and Sam Patterson and will be based out of Aughnamullen GAA in Tullynanegish (Lough Egish).

The first car will begin at 10am Sunday morning and will finish at 6pm. There will be a fuel halt/lunch between 12:30 and 13:00.

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. Please note, the App is continuously being updated, as it’s in its early stages yet. This App is for everyone; it is not just for club members and competitors.

Oisín Sherlock

Round 4 of the 2025 Skoda Parts Ireland National Endurance Trial Championship, took place last weekend. Killarney and District Motor Club hosted this latest event, and it was the Co. Cork duo of Owen Murphy/Patrick O’Sullivan who emerged victorious after the events twenty-three selectives.

Evin Hughes navigating for Karl O’Donoghue, finished 8^th overall and 1^st in Class A2M. It was a ‘what could have been’ kind of event for them as they had been in 2^nd place overall after ‘Selective 8’, but unfortunately, they had problems on ‘Selective 9’, which resulted in them plummeting down to 16^th overall. They did recover over the remaining fourteen selectives, and climbed back to 8^th overall by the finish of the event.

Round 5 of the Tullyallen Kart Club Championship, also took place over the weekend. In the Cadet Iame Qualifying race,

Babby Connolly finished in 1^st place, with an average speed of 44.1 mph and took the win by a mere 0.009s. On Heat 1 of the Cadet Iame race, he once again finished in 1^st place. Bobby kept his winning streak up, as on Race 22, the Cadet Iame Final, he completed the fourteen laps, 10.522s quicker than the person who finished in 2^nd place.

The Co. Monaghan Motor Club Endurance Trial 2025, is fast approaching.

The event will be Round 5 of the national championship and will take place on Sunday July 27th.

The event Regulations and Entry Form are available now. The event is being based out of the Aughnamullen GAA, and is organised by Garry Farrelly, Michael Sheridan and Sam Patterson.

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. Please note, the App is continuously being updated, as it’s in its early stages yet.

This App is for everyone; it’s not just for club members and competitors.

Oisín Sherlock

Co Monaghan Motor Club members were like ‘Daft Punk’ last weekend. Both Killian McArdle and Shane Farrell were around the world rallying. Killian McArdle was navigating for Casey Jay Coleman in Italy, on the latest event of the 2025 European Rally Championship, and Shane Farrell was navigating for Patrick O’Brien, all the way down in Australia, on an Australian Rally Championship event.

Casey Jay and Killian were taking part in Rally di Roma Capitale 2025, Round 4 of the 2025 M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 Trophy. The lads finished the two-day, thirteen stage tarmac event in 35^th position overall. They also finished 3^rd in Class ERC3, and 2^nd in the M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 Trophy. Their next event together will be the Barum Czech Rally Zlín 2025, which takes place in August.

Meanwhile, Patrick and Shane were ‘Men at Work’ in a land ‘Down Under’, taking part in the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland 2025. The event was based around the City of Gympie in Queensland Australia. The event was divided into two parts, day one being Heat 1 and day two being Heat 2. On both heats of the event, they finished in 5^th place overall. Travelling in a Ford Fiesta Rally2, on a gravel trail, head full of pace notes, they met a strange water-splash, it made them nervous. Nervous as they had just landed a bit off centre after a big crest jump, and Patrick had to quickly gather himself to avoid sliding off. This moment was caught on camera too. Shane also met an Australian guy who works in IT. Shane asked him, do you come from a LAN down under? The technician just smiled and gave him a megabyte sandwich.

Closer to home, Adam Langan navigated Ewan Murdoch to 9^th overall and 1^st in Class 8 on the Loughgall Stages Rally 2025, onboard a Ford Escort MKII. Andrew Mackarel and Ciaran McGorman took their Opel Ascona home in 36^th overall. Thomas Treanor navigating for Damien Toner finished the event in 48^th position overall.

Down in Waterford, Josh Moffett and Keith Moriarty won the 2025 Ravens Rack Rally back onboard the trusty Hyundai i20 R5. Josh’s brother Sam, with Shane Buckley on the notes finished 4^th overall and 1^st in Class 5. Paul Barrett and Darragh Kelly finished 7^th overall and 4^th in Class 5.  Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon finished 13^th overall and 3^rd in Class 14. Paul McPhillips guided Cian Caldwell to 17^th overall and 1^st in Class 2.

Kaine Treanor navigating for Jason McSweeney retired after SS2, James McCarville/Arthur Kierans retired after SS4. Daniel McConnon, navigating for Gavin McGivney retired after SS6.

Shane and Molly Maguire were competing in a Rallysport Association event at Shackleton, Co. Derry last weekend. Shane took his Citroën C3 Rally2 home in 30^th overall. Molly unfortunately was forced to retire with mechanical issues on her Peugeot 206.

The Co. Monaghan Motor Club Endurance Trial 2025 is fast approaching. The event will take place on Sunday July the 27th. The event Regulations and Entry Form will be available soon.

Oisín Sherlock.

Co. Monaghan Motor Club CLG hosted their annual Charity Static Car Show and Shine last weekend.

The event took place in the Long Stay Car park of the Monaghan Town Shopping Centre.

There was a great turnout of cars for display and a large number of spectators to meander around viewing the displayed cars. They also had the opportunity to ask the vehicle owners about the history of their vehicle and the restoration process.

All monies raised on the day will be donated between two charities, namely, SOSAD and the Monaghan Branch of Crocus.  A huge thank you to everyone who put a car on display and to those who came to view all the beautiful vehicles. Your donation is greatly appreciated.

Acropolis Rally of the Gods

Conor Mohan was in Greece last week, taking part in the latest round of the 2025 Junior World Rally Championship, EKO Acropolis Rally 2025. Conor and his driver Eamonn Kelly, finished the very demanding event in 5^th place overall.

Demanding, doesn’t just describe the events rocky surface, because the temperature was up on 42°C, before factoring in the in-car temperature and the wearing of a three-piece fire suit. The competitive part of the event began on Thursday with a Super Special Stage in Athans. On the opening Super Special, Conor and Eamonn finished a fantastic 3^rd fastest, a minuscule nine tenths of a second in arrears of the fastest. They were in 3^rd position overall, heading into the 11.58kms of SS7 ‘Elatia’, when the lads were unfortunately forced into retirement.

On the extremely rough surface of ‘Elatia’, a suspension component broke onboard their Rally3 Ford Fiesta, leaving the lads with no option but to immediately retire. The M-Sport Poland mechanics were able to get the car repaired, so Conor and Eamonn were able to rejoin the event on Saturday morning. The retirement the previous evening had dropped them from 3^rd overall, all the way down to 9^th at the beginning of Saturday.  The lads had a positive opening loop of stages on Saturday morning. But unfortunately, they would be hampered on the opening stage of the repeat loop, when they picked up a puncture just after the start of SS12, and with the stage being almost 20km in length, they had no choice but stop and change the tyre. Not long after replacing the wheel, the extremely rough gravel/rocky road surface, broke a brake disc and cylinder. Fortunately for the pair, they were able to do a temporary repair job, but that didn’t prevent them from having to complete SS13 without any brakes at all.

There was no let up in the ‘Rally of the Gods’ bad luck on Sunday however, as on the opening stage of that final day, the lads picked up yet another puncture. Despite the events awful bad luck, the lads still remain upbeat and are full steam ahead for the next event in the world championship, ‘Secto Rally Finland’, which takes place at the end of July, beginning of August. As disappointing as the Acropolis Rally of the Gods undoubtedly was for Conor and Eamonn, I’ve some mind-blowing information for them. The world’s first French Fry wasn’t actually cooked in France; it was cooked in Greece… Learning that there will be at least one positive to take away from the weekend. Conor can thank me later.

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. Please note, the App is continuously being updated, as it is in its early days yet. This App is for everyone; it’s not just for members and competitors.

The Co. Monaghan Motor Club Endurance Trial 2025 is fast approaching. The event will take place on Sunday July the 27^th. The event Regulations and Entry Form will be available soon.

Oisín Sherlock