CLONAKILTY’S Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) and his Rosscarbery co-driver Eric Calnan were pipped for third place at last weekend's Manx National Rally on the Isle of Man. 

Their Clonakilty Park Hotel/Carbery Plastics Citroen ran faultlessly over the two days during which they were involved in a great duel with the experienced British driver David Pritchard (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2). 

With a 3.9-second lead entering the final few stages they came under severe pressure from Pritchard, who has significantly more knowledge of terrain than McCarthy, who was only on his second outing on the Isle of Man. 

Indeed, over the years Pritchard had competed on one particular stage over a hundred times. 

With Pritchard taking a 9.2-second lead into the final stage McCarthy made a heroic effort only to lose out on third place by a mere 0.7 of a second. The rally was won by Tyrone's Ryan Loughran (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), who finished 20.2s in front of another Tyrone driver Niall McGonigle (VW Polo GTi R5).

***

The Triton Showers National Rally Championship resumes on Sunday with the Carlow Rally, however, Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1), who won the event two years ago in a VW Polo GTi R5, withdrew his entry on Tuesday morning. He will return to the series on the Circuit of Munster on May 31st.  

Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) heads the entry followed by Donegal's Michael Boyle, Longford's Shane Quinn, and the Donegal trio of Declan Boyle, Matthew Boyle and Kevin Eves, all in Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 cars with the exception of Quinn, who will steer a Ford Fiesta Rally2. 

There's still Cronin representation in Carlow as Robert will campaign an Opel Corsa Rally4 and will contest the Stellantis Rally Cup Ireland series and the Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Championship. 

A trio of West Cork co-drivers are competing with Bandon's Shane O'Mahony calling the notes for Kilkenny's Daire Gleeson (Ford Escort); Ardfield's Gary Lombard sits with Waterford's Richie Power (Ford Escort), and Rathbarry's Joseph O'Sullivan is on pacenote duty with Tipperary's Jack Fennessy (Peugeot 208 Rally4). The first of the day's nine stages starts at 10am.