Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty wins Sligo Stages Rally 2025
The bumper main field was expected to bring severe competition, and it delivered fully.
The opening stage, Sligo Junction sponsored Brae, took its toll on the best, as tipped favourite Josh Moffitt encountered a big off on the downhill section bring an end to his day.
The battle for the other top fielders remained intense even in his absence, with late entry David Kelly setting fastest, two seconds ahead of number one seed Eddie Doherty and Dessie Henry who were on matched times followed by the two Boyles.
Stage two, the Cloonacool Porter Ford sponsored tighter test, saw Eddie Doherty take the advantage going ahead by 1.8 seconds on Kelly, with Donegal man, and former winner, Boyle just 0.2 off second place.
Stage 3, before service, the DC Fire protection sponsored shortened sprint saw Doherty holding his lead but Boyle closed that gap to within 0.1 of second entering the Carty sponsored Service area at the Collooney roundabout.
For the second loop, the crews headed back for the Brae and once again it was David Kelly who braved the mountain test to set fastest and regain his lead holding a margin of No 1 seed Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty.
The Boyles were lying third and fourth marginally off the leading two, which remained constant over Cloonacool second time over.
On the shortened stage six, Doherty showed his advantage on the shorter sprint to regain the lead.
It was back to the Brae for the final loop, Kelly again showed his bravery over the mountain closing that gap to 0.8 of the leaders – a tight margin he again let slip on the penultimate stage with the gap moving out to 2.4.
David Kelly was making the final burst to close that gap on the final sprint but having a big spin mid stage brought an end to his rally, and Killkenny's Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy were to lift the title of FAAC simply Automatic / Sligo Park Hotel – Stages Rally 2025 title.
Finishing second was Declan Boyle and Patrick Walsh, 10 seconds off the leader and indeed they saved the day for the remaining field when they sportingly cleared the Kellys car to a safe position in six minutes to let the final stage run.
His son Michael Boyle and Dermot Mc Cafferty on the notes finished third, making it a one, two, three for the Skoda Fabias.
From a local perspective, finishers included Paul Crosby and Eoin Lennon picking up the Mc Gowan Landscapes Award for the fastest Connacht Motor Club crew, John Mc Gettrick and Conor Lappin were 8th in Class 13.
Keith Ewing and Stefan Comerford in the busy Class 11F finished just outside the awards at 5th in the class with fellow locals 6th in that class Alan Lawson and Sean Harte capturing the Martin Kearns Memorial Award for the highest placed Connacht Motor Club finisher, not in receipt of any other award.
Jason Currid and John Conway took first in Class 15 as Boyle's Andy Heekin with David Mc Sorley on notes came second in that class.
Paul Mc Loughlin with Liam Nelis in their Sunbeam captured first in Class 10 ahead of Patsy Mc Donagh guided by local Leigh Cavanagh on notes.
Ferlin Taylor with Shane Barry on the notes took the RWD Peugeot to the finish line having a challenging week preparing the car for the weekend at 10th in the highly competitive Class 13.
Brian O Donnell and Oraith Mullaney in the unique MX5 came home next in class. North Sligo crew Colin Currid and Paul Gallagher crossed the finish ramp at 68th overall, while neighbouring competitor Patrick Herity with John Mc Carthy on notes finished 70th.
Rory and Katelyn Carrol took their Class 12 Escort to the finish ramp at 72nd overall. On his first event on tarmac in the driver seat, Jack Carty with Declan Boyle calling notes finished just outside the awards 4th in Class 10.
Ballymote's Alan and Gary Quinn in the Damp Master Opel Manta finished at 91st. Completing his 30th Sligo Rally at 65 years old, Brian McGarraghy with his son home from Australia, Mark took the meticulous yellow Escort across the ramp finishing 6th in Class 11R.
Miceal Currid with Shae Kelly shouting the notes took first in Class 1 in the Civic.
Gurteen's David Hunt with Gillian in the navigator seat, while being off for a period recovered to take 3rd in Class 2A. Also being off for a short period, Ballymote's David Quinn with Leigh Currid calling notes managed to take the Subaru, in the absence of the BMW, home to capture 3rd in Class 15.
At prizegiving it was emotional as the award in the memory of the late Gene Mc Donald and Daire Maguire was presented to the highest placed Class 13 finisher not in receipt of any other award who was Seimi Brown and Ciaran Harkin.
The Tommy Hughes Award, which is presided over by the synonymous John Comiskey for volunteers who include competitors, marshals, timekeepers, radio personnel, sponsors or anyone who contributes to the running of rallying in the northern region was presented to Andrew Mullen for his continuous support of rallying and devotion to rallying in the country.
The club would sincerely wish to acknowledge and thank the support and understanding of local residents, businesses, Garda and local authorities and to the many people who volunteered over the weekend.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
24 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jim McGuinness admits 2014 All-Ireland final loss haunted him for years
Jim McGuinness has revealed he thought about the 2014 All-Ireland final loss to Kerry every day until he resumed the role of Donegal boss last season. As he prepares to lead Donegal into battle in an All-Ireland final for the third time and for a second time against the Kingdom, McGuinness opened up on the torment of losing a final. During his first stint in charge of his native county, he won an All-Ireland crown in 2012 at the expense of Mayo. Two years later, Donegal toppled Dublin in a seismic semi-final battle. Dublin's next Championship loss wouldn't come until their last four loss to Mayo in 2021. However, Donegal fell short against Kerry in the final, with Kieran Donaghy ruthlessly punishing a rare error from a Paul Durcan restart to plunder a vital goal midway through the second half, and the Kingdom eventually winning by 2-9 to 0-12. Speaking at Donegal's press night at Convoy last Tuesday, McGuinness was asked how long that defeat lingered. 'I would say until I got back involved, I would say there wasn't a day I didn't think about it,' said McGuinness. 'I can remember walking about the hotel after we lost in a daze. I didn't know what happened, didn't know where I was, didn't know what actually had gone wrong there and taking a step back from that and trying to work that out. 'It's very, very painful. You're in a banquet and there's 1,200 people and you don't want to see anybody. That's not a nice place to be. 'All of that factors into it but I think when you get back on the horse, then you're not thinking about the past, you're thinking about what you need to do. 'You're thinking about moving forward and we have moved forward and we've created this opportunity. 'If everything works well and everything goes to plan, the only thing that it guarantees you is to be competitive. That's the only thing that guarantees you. 'But if we're competitive in this All-Ireland, I'll be happy. I'll be really, really happy. That's all we're looking for is to go in, show our true colours and be competitive.' Donegal football manager Jim McGuinness after the All-Ireland semi-final McGuinness is back for another crack at All-Ireland glory and so are Donegal. Neil McGee and Colm McFadden started the 2014 final and are now in the management team, while Michael Murphy, Paddy McBrearty, Ryan McHugh remain from the playing squad. McGuinness continued: 'Losing always sharpens the pencil. There's nothing better than winning an All-Ireland and there's nothing worse than losing it. 'It's probably the best day of your life and the worst day of your life, and that's the reality. 'I've been on both sides of the fence and I suppose trying to get that message across to the players is very, very important. 'But you have to live those moments as well and it's difficult. 'When you're 18 or 19 years of age and Anthony Molloy is telling you to make the most of this because it'll fly in, you're thinking, 'it won't really fly in, I'm in a good place here.' 'And all of a sudden you're retired and you haven't got the sense to take the information and use it maximally, if you like. 'So we'll be imparting that to the players, that it's a brilliant day but also there's a football game to be played. And if you don't win that game, it's tough. And nobody has the right to win any game, but I do think that if you go out and you give it everything you've got and you fall short, at least you've done that. 'I think where regret falls sometimes is if you're coming down the road in the bus and you feel there was a bit left in the tank, I think that's when it becomes really, really hard. 'We know what we're going in against in Kerry and we know they're just brilliant in these situations and they expect to win in these situations. 'Challenging that and battling that will be very, very difficult but we have to give it our best shot, to be fair, after the work that they've put in all year. If we get that, I think I'll be happy.' McGuinness, who won two Sigerson Cup titles with Tralee IT in 1998 and '99, reiterated his view that Kerry are favourites to regain the Sam Maguire. Jack O'Connor, in his third term, will take charge of Kerry for an eighth time in an All-Ireland final and is bidding for a fifth win as manager. His counterpart stressed that Dublin and Kerry have an expectation of success every year. Donegal are appearing in only their fourth ever All-Ireland final whereas Kerry are playing in their third final in four years. 'They (Kerry) know their way about Croke Park on All-Ireland final day better than anybody else, maybe with the exception of Dublin in the last decade or so, but they were probably contesting most of those finals with them anyway,' added McGuinness. 'So the challenge is huge. That's the biggest barrier that you have to overcome as a team that's around the periphery, if you like, and I would say ourselves would be in that bracket. 'Tyrone would be in that bracket. Armagh would be in that bracket. Good teams and good sides, but trying to make a breakthrough. 'We wake up on the 1st of January and you're hoping things will go well and you're hoping you can get momentum and build a team and build an energy. 'Kerry and Dublin wake up on the 1st of January and if they don't win the All-Ireland, they'll be disappointed. So that mindset is going to be difficult for our lads to overcome because that's what they're going to be facing as soon as the ball's thrown in. 'They're going to be facing fellas that have been there, done that, and know how to do that and they also have the knowledge and the experience and the tradition to back that up. 'So that's probably the first challenge we'll meet and some of that will be played out before the ball is even thrown in.'
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Behind the Story: The 'massive scramble' for All-Ireland final tickets
It's All-Ireland Football final week as Kerry and Donegal fans gear up for Croke Park on Sunday. RTÉ's GAA Correspondent Marty Morrissey told Behind the Story where all the tickets go – and why it can be so hard to get them. "It is difficult to get tickets, and I understand the frustration and the anger," he told Fran and David. "There's 82,300 tickets to go into Croke Park – that's the capacity crowd. "The two contesting teams roughly get 20,000 tickets each. "All the teams in the finals, despite it happening year after years, are spoilt when it comes to semi-finals because they can get 40,000 each really. "But when it comes All-Ireland finals, there is a process [where] tickets go to every unit of the GAA nationwide and abroad." Marty says ticket allocations quickly add up and the policy of sending tickets to all counties can frustrate fans from the two teams playing in the final. 10,000 tickets in the stadium are also for the corporate and premium sections. "The GAA that I was brought up in didn't have the corporate boxes; this is the world we live in," he said. "For the GAA to survive – or any organisation – it is about money. "I will say that the GAA do one good thing: everything goes back to the clubs." Marty said he believes every GAA fan should get the chance to experience an All-Ireland final once in their lifetime. "You don't have to be from Donegal or Kerry on Sunday to appreciate the pride that comes with even the parade, even the cheer," he said. "I've been lucky in my lifetime to see Clare win a couple of All-Irelands and to see that saffron and blue running out on to the pitch. "To see your neighbours running on to the pitch is truly historical and emotional." You can watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Watch: All-Ireland SFC final preview – Kerry and Donegal final clash is one for the ages
Can Jim McGuinness get revenge on the Kingdom after their 2014 All-Ireland final loss? Can they Donegal stop David Clifford and do they have a trick up their sleeves? Can the prodigal son Michael Murphy lift Tír Chonaill up the steps of the Hogan Stand once more time? Jack v Jim, Clifford v Murphy – all the match-ups are analysed by our GAA experts.
