Keith Cronin leads local charge in historic first-ever three-day West Cork Rally

BY MARTIN WALSH

THE first-ever three-day Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally swings into action on Friday afternoon not too far from the ancestral home of the great Henry Ford in Ballinascarthy.

A burgeoning entry features all the major contenders for the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship including Ballylickey’s Keith Cronin (Ford Fiesta Rally2), who won the opening round Galway International that marked his return to the series for the first time since he won the title in 2016.

Cronin and any of his top six rivals are all capable of victory over an 18-stage encounter where consistency, pace and precision will play a crucial part in deciding the final outcome.

Last year’s winner Josh Moffett is the top seed. Having switched from his very successful Hyundai i20 R5 to a Citroen C3 Rally2, he has yet to get to the same level of performance. He was third in Galway where his new car bottomed out far too often for his liking. Meanwhile, on his outing in the national championship on the recent Mayo Rally, he retired after damaging the radiator when his Citroen hit a bale. The determination to win in Clonakilty for a third successive year might just give him that extra incentive.

Reigning Irish Tarmac champion Derry’s Callum Devine (VW Polo GTi), like Moffett, is pretty familiar with the West Cork terrain. Last year, he punched in a number of stage wins; a repeat would certainly help his cause.

Ironically, in terms of the stages, Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Mikie Galvin are the least experienced of the top trio. The impression that it’s his local rally doesn’t really hold water, but his adaptability to his pacenotes will again be a key factor. Naturally, he was delighted with his Galway win, but he knows everything went pretty well on that occasion. With the Probite British Rally Championship beginning next Friday, Cronin summed up the situation.

‘It would be great if every rally was to go as well as Galway did, but we know they won't be all like that – the reality is that it'll be a hard slog between now and October.’ Not to be distracted, Cronin will take the one-event-at-a-time approach.

Cronin’s former rival in the British series, Welsh ace Matt Edwards (Ford Fiesta Rally2) could be the dark horse in Clonakilty. Although his Galway outing ended very prematurely, his performances in Donegal in recent times suggest that he will be a major force.

The presence of Junior World Rally champion William Creighton in his M-Sport run Ford Fiesta Rally2 is generating great interest. The Moira driver is familiar with the stags in Clonakilty and brought his Fiesta Rally3 to impressive finishes and class wins in the last two years. This will be the first time he will drive the Fiesta Rally2 car on tarmac and it will be intriguing to see how he performs.

Belfast’s Jonathan Greer (Citroen C3 Rally2) is a familiar competitor on the West Cork Rally; he will need a consistent run to equal his previous best of a fourth place finish. The top ten is completed by Omagh’s Ryan Loughran (Ford Fiesta Rally2), Donegal’s David Kelly (VW Polo GTi R5), Preston’s James Ford and Donegal’s Declan Boyle, both in Citroen C3 Rally2 cars.

Utilising this year to familiarise himself with his Ford Fiesta Rally2 Cavan’s Gary Kiernan occupies the number 11 berth followed by Kilkenny’s Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia Rally 2) and several local aces – Dunmanway’s David Guest, Clonakilty Cal McCarthy, Ovens’ Owen Murphy and Dunmanway’s Jason McSweeney.

Guest, in the RLA hired Fiesta in its new Acesigns livery is looking forward to the event. He said: ‘Keith and the others at the top are at a different level but we (co-driver Jonathan McGrath) should have a great battle with Cal (McCarthy), Owen (Murphy) and Jason (McSweeney) and Gary Kiernan. I suppose you could say we are in that second tier.’

McCarthy, onboard his Carbery Plastics/Clonakilty Park Hotel-backed Citroen C3 Rally2 outlined his plan.

‘I’m looking forward to it,’ he said, ‘I want to try and hold the pace we had in Galway. Any of the top five could win the rally, for us, it would be nice to get into that middle sector of the top ten. Hopefully, this year we (with Rosscarbery co-driver Eric Calnan) will get a proper run over Sam’s Cross. I’m looking forward to the build-up and the atmosphere that will be there on the Friday this time.’

Piloting the Denis and Mary Ryan sponsored Citroen C3 Rally2, Owen Murphy told The Southern Star of his target: ‘It’s a year since I did a tarmac rally, so I guess a top-ten finish would be realistic. The lack of seat time is the biggest issue. We have upgraded the car to the latest specification, so it should be good.’ He is co-driven by Limerick’s Anthony Nestor.

On the back of a fine fifth place in the Mayo Rally, Jason McSweeney, who will be co-driven by Liam Brennan, said, ‘It’s great with the seat time in Ballina, it should stand to us for the weekend. We need to keep it clean and tidy.’

Elsewhere, Dunmanway’s Conor McCarthy will debut a Ford Fiesta Raly2, Clonakilty’s Kevin Kelleher and Kilcrohane’s Jer O’Donovan, both in Ford Fiesta R5s, are seeded at 32 and 36 respectively.

Amongst the many locals that will be involved in class battles are Ardfield’s Eoghan Calnan and Clonakilty’s Diarmuid Keohane, both in Class 13 Ford Escorts.

In Class 11F, Clonakilty’s Eamon McCarthy, Durrus’ Etienne O’Sullivan, Lisavaird’s Cathal McCarthy and Ring’s Darragh O’Donovan, all in Honda Civics compete in Class 11F. Clonakilty’s Aidan Hennessy (Ford Fiesta Rally4) is seeded at No. 105.

Co-drivers JJ Cremin (Kilnamartyra and Dylan Doonan (Barryroe) will call the notes for their respective drivers Keith Lyons (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Midleton’s Cian Walsh (Toyota Corolla).