BALLYLICKEY’S Daniel Cronin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) and his Ladysbridge co-driver Padraig O'Donovan finished seventh in the IPS Packaging Circuit of Munster Rally.

The round four event of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship was won by Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) and his Limerick co-driver Keith Moriarty, who led from start to finish.

It was a tough event for many, with no fewer than 14 of the original top 40 seeds amongst the non-starters.

The opening stage was particularly dusty and gravelly, yet it was still very competitive with a mere eight tenths of a second covering the top three of Moffett, Donegal's Eamonn Kelly (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) and Leitrim's Keelan Grogan (Ford Fiesta Rally2). Cronin was in eighth place, 13.4 seconds off top spot as he admitted to being somewhat cautious.

The stage was interrupted when Tyrone's Jason Dickson crashed his Ford Fiesta Rally2, with a number of competitors credited with a nominal time, including Ovens driver Owen Murphy (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Clonakilty's David Guest (Ford Fiesta Rally2).

On the second stage Moffett set the fastest time to lead Grogan by 6.4 seconds, Kelly topped the time sheets on SS3 and arrived at the Annacotty service park 5.5 seconds behind Moffett with Grogan just behind. Cronin remained in eighth place while Murphy was 11th and Guest 15th.

Moffett continued to lead through the second loop that ended the participation of both Eamonn Kelly and David Guest, both on the sixth stage where mist and drizzly conditions made sections of the stage quite tricky. Kelly clipped a bank and his Toyota ended up in a field.

Guest's exit was more serious – on a narrow downhill section, his Fiesta appeared to get out of line and barrel rolled several times before coming to a halt. The emergency services were deployed and after receiving medical attention at the scene, the Clonakilty driver was removed to hospital as a precaution. He returned home later that evening.

By the end of the second loop, Moffett led Grogan by 20.8 seconds, with Longford's Shane Quinn (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 23.9 seconds further behind in third. Having switched to a harder compound tyre, Cronin was seventh.

Moffett, who eased off on the final loop of stages, took his second win of the campaign as Grogan and Quinn completed the top three.

Murphy, who finished 13th, said, 'For the first time ever, I know what's wrong. I have a really good feeling in the car. We got our tyre choice wrong on the first loop and on the last loop, so that cost us time on both occasions. We made good progress with the car, I have a new suspension under it and it was a lot nicer.’

In terms of the Tritons series, that is now at the halfway stage – Moffett (70pts) is seven points ahead of Quinn with McCourt (44pts) third, while Cronin (22 points) has moved up to seventh.

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In the Circuit of Munster, Dunmanway's Finbarr Hurley (Peugeot 106 GTi) and his Rosscarbery co-driver John Kingston took a start-to-finish victory in Class 1. At the end of the day's nine stages they finished 3.5 seconds ahead of the Honda Civic of Connacht crew Colin Gray/Bradley O'Donnell.

Youghal's Ross Ryan (Ford Fiesta R4) and The Pike's Peter Keohane were fourth in Class 2, they lost time on SS7 when they had to reverse after they slid wide and ended up in a ditch. Inchigeelagh's Cyril Casey (Ford Fiesta) and his Clondrohid co-driver Eoghan McCarthy finished second in Class 2A.

In Class 3, Reenascreena's Aoife Ronan partnered Waterford's John Bagge (Honda Civic) to victory in Class 3. Elsewhere, Enniskeane's Rory Hennessy/Conor O'Connell (Ford Escort) were second in Class 12 while in Class 14, West Cork co-drivers Bandon's Daniel Seaman (with Midleton's Kevin Dolphin) and Rathbarry's Niall O'Sullivan (with Cappawhite's Sean O'Carroll, whose company IPS Packaging were the event sponsors) were eighth and ninth respectively, both crews in Ford Escorts.

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Meanwhile, in the second round races in the European GT4 series in Monza, Robert and Colin Cronin were 21st in Saturday's race but in the second race on Sunday with Robert at the wheel of the Race Lab prepared McLaren Artura GT4, they retired on Lap 13. Their next outing in the series is in Spa Francorchamps on June 25/27.

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The top ten for the forthcoming Wilton Recycling Donegal International Rally is as follows: 1. Callum Devine/Noel O'Sullivan (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2); 2. Kris Meeke/Liam Regan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2); 3. Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Fiesta Rally2); 4. William Creighton/TBA (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2); 5. Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2); 6. Josh Moffett/Andy Hayes (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2); 7. David Kelly/Shane Buckley (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2); 8. Merion Evans/Ger Conway (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2); 9. Michael Boyle/Declan Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2); 10. Kevin Eves/Chris Melly (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2).

Dunmanway's Jason McSweeney (Ford Escort WRC) and his Blackpool co-driver Liam Brennan are seeded at number two in the Historic category behind reigning ITRC Historic champions Donegal's John O'Donnell/Paddy Robinson (BMW M3).