22-06-2025
Callum Devine holds back tears to revel in ‘amazing' Donegal International Rally hat-trick success
As others wilted in the warm and humid conditions at Round Four of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, Devine – with Noel O'Sullivan once again on the notes – maintained a cool head to get his hands on the Jim Kennedy Perpetual Trophy once again.
The 31-year-old becomes the fifth person to successfully achieve the feat and joins a short but illustrious list that includes Cathal Curley (1972-1974), Billy Coleman (1984-1986), Co Armagh's Andrew Nesbitt (2000, 2002 and 2003), and the late Manus Kelly, who dominated his home international alongside Donall Barrett between 2016 and 2018.
Devine also becomes the first person to make it a hat-trick of wins over the same three-year period at the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship-counting Killarney Rally of the Lakes.
'To be honest, I was quite happy with my driving all weekend – not one moment, not one mishap all weekend apart from a small overshoot on the Saturday – and once I got myself into a good lead, I was able to fall back into a 'manage it' mode and go from there,' Devine said.
'Noel, again, was top-class, the team were top-class, the tyre choice – everything, really – was top-class and you need all of those things to work if you are to come out on top here. I think it also shows to people the Irish Tarmac Championship is pretty fast.
'It is pretty amazing – we are absolutely thrilled. The competition here this weekend has been top-class and all the guys that came here to race have pushed us really hard.
'For the first Donegal win, I put a lot of pressure on myself, but once you manage to get it over the line and you can see how it is done, it makes a difference.'
The pendulum firmly swung the way of Devine on Saturday's repeat of 'Garrygort' when Moira's William Creighton, carrying a puncture, hit a bump and understeered off the road.
Creighton started the day in fourth but quickly moved up to second and wasted no time reeling in Devine – who had to make do with no handbrake for much of the day – to sit less than five seconds behind the leading Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 before his trip into a hedge.
Devine and O'Sullivan kicked off the Sunday leg with a sizeable 21.8-second cushion over Creighton's team-mate Meirion Evans and were 40 seconds clear of David Kelly's VW Polo.
On the opening stage, Devine increased his buffer to half a minute, aided by a small spin for Evans in the second of the Castol-liveried Melvyn Evans Motorsports-run Toyota cars.
Devine continued to take a sensible approach either side of service, pushing enough to maintain his concentration levels without putting the result in jeopardy – and it paid off.
Joining Creighton on the casualties' list was Paddon, whose first Donegal foray ended on Saturday's 'Knockalla' stage when he had a soft roll on a tightening left-hander. Armstrong also failed to make it to the end as his car came to a stop on the very last test.
