End of rally engine failure for Jon Armstrong and Donegal’s Shane Byrne handed 2025 West Cork Rally honours to Keith Cronin and Mike Galvin after a close battle between the two crews over the event’s three days of action.
Armstrong and Byrne looked to have claimed a 34.8-second victory before their Ford Fiesta Rally2 ran into trouble after West Cork’s final stage.
Stewards judged Armstrong to have received outside assistance to make it back to Parc Ferme and was consequently excluded from the final results.
The rally started with reigning NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Champion Cronin taking control of the leaderboard on Friday’s opening four stages. The Citroen C3 Rally2 pilot built an early nine-second lead over fellow Irish Tarmac protagonists Matt Edwards and David Moynihan, Edwards’ stage win on Rossmore keeping Cronin within his headlights.
Armstrong, who was rallying in Ireland for the first time since 2019, lost time on West Cork’s first two stages due to a faulty intercom. Despite being unable to hear his pacenotes, the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver stayed within the top four. A fastest time on stage four moved Armstrong into third, ahead of double Irish Tarmac champion Josh Moffett who couldn’t match the front pace in the night-time stages.
Edwards and Armstrong edged closer to Cronin on Saturday’s iconic Ring opener after Cronin made too safe a tyre choice. In a bid to make further in-roads on the repeat pass of Ring, Edwards slid his Hyundai i20 Rally2 off the road and out of ITRC’s opening round.
A hat-trick of stage wins for Armstrong and Byrne on Saturday afternoon brought them within 7.5 seconds of Cronin and Galvin with six stages to go on West Cork’s final day of action.
Cronin was under pressure and an understeering off-road moment on Sunday’s opening Ardfield test allowed Armstrong to half his advantage. An almighty effort through the next Glandore stage resulted in Armstrong bettering his rivals by 7.5 seconds to move into the lead. With Cronin’s understeering issues persisting, the experienced champion admitted he wouldn’t be drawn into a battle with Armstrong who wasn’t registered for championship points.
As it turned out, Cronin and Galvin’s maximum haul of Irish Tarmac points resulted in a second West Cork victory in as many years following Armstrong’s engine failure.
Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes started the 18-stage rally with a scare within the opening kilometres of stage one. Their Citroen momentarily skipped out of line on a notorious Ballinascarty jump but the reigning national champion kept it between the hedges to set stage one’s second-fastest time. The same jump would catch out Jason McSweeney, moving his Skoda Fabia onto the early retirement list.
Moffett lost time to his rivals on Friday night’s dark stages but returned to form on Saturday with a series of top three times. A stall on stage 16’s start-line cost him some time but he had a comfortable margin over Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy who eventually finished 43.8 seconds behind.
Declan Boyle, David Kelly, Michael Boyle, and Cathan McCourt produced a memorable battle for fourth place. On several occasions, the Rally2 rivals finished within a second of each other after West Cork’s relentless stages.
Declan Boyle entered Sunday’s final six stages with a one-second advantage over Kelly who in turn was 7.7 seconds ahead of Michael Boyle.
McCourt was over ten seconds behind the trio ahead but fancied his chances at getting in the mix. His push nearly cost him a West Cork result altogether though when his Hyundai got out of shape over a crest on Ardfield.
Worse was to befall Michael Boyle who dropped over three minutes with a puncture on the same test.
That left Declan Boyle and David Kelly to battle it out for fourth, and that is exactly what they did, trading places throughout the day. An overshoot on West Cork’s final stage was Boyle’s undoing, losing a top-four finish to his County Donegal compatriot by a mere 0.6 seconds.
McCourt survived another scare over a jump on West Cork’s finale. He didn’t realise his Hyundai’s rear shock absorber was damaged when he flew over a bump early on Sam’s Cross. The County Tyrone driver cruised the car home with seven seconds to spare over seventh-placed Kevin Eves and Chris Melly.
Local drivers Cal McCarthy and Owen Murphy finished eighth and ninth respectively with Michael Boyle completing the top ten.
A stunning drive by Kyle McBride and Darragh Mullen gave them a near two-and-a-half minute Rally4 victory ahead of Jack Brennan and Eoin Doherty’s similar Peugeot 208 Rally4. Joseph Kelly had been second before a collision with a chicane on Sam’s Cross put him out with three stages to go.
West Cork Rally top five:
1 Cronin/Galvin (Citroen C3 Rally2) 2:00:21.0s
2 Moffett/Hayes (C3) +1:07.2s
3 Doherty/Murphy (Skoda Fabia Rally2) +1:51.0
4 Kelly/Kierans (Volkswagen Polo R5) +3:10.5
5 Boyle/Walsh (Fabia) +3:11.1
McEvoy Motorsport Modified ITRC
2022 McEvoy Motorsport Modified Irish Tarmac Champions Simon Reid and John Murphy claimed West Cork’s modified honours on the final stage of the three-day event. The Ford Escort Mk2 crew set the rally’s early pace to hold a 15.4-second Class 14 lead over Padraig Egan and Tomas Ryan on Friday night.
An epic display of driving on Saturday had last year’s Modified ITRC champions Frank and Lauren Kelly claw back over half a minute to move into the lead. It was a lead they held until the final stage after a misfire disrupted their final three stages. They did all they could but an edge-of-your-seat fastest time by Reid on West Cork’s Sam’s Cross decider gave Reid a 7.3-second win.
Padraig Egan, Vincent O’Shea, Cian Walsh, and Kevin Kelliher all retired from strong positions, handing third to Armagh’s Damian Toner and Joe Comerford.
Kenneth Cullinane clinched Class 13 honours by 21.6 seconds from James Bradley as both finished inside modified’s top five.
West Cork Rally Modified top five:
1 Reid/Murphy (Ford Escort Mk2) 2:10:26.3s
2 Kelly/Kelly (Escort) +7.3s
3 Toner/Comerford (Escort) +1:45.0
4 Cullinane/O’Regan (Escort) +4:35.0
5 Bradley/Nolan (Escort) +4:56.6
Wales Motorsport Fabrication Historic ITRC
Tomas Davies continued his impressive recent form with another West Cork Historic Rally victory, strengthening his position at the top of the Wales Motorsport Fabrication Historic ITRC standings.
It was Neil Williams and Eamon Hayes who set the early historic pace, though, with the fastest time on Ring’s Saturday morning opener. Tomas and Eurig Davies responded on the fast Kilbrittain test to move into a 1.1-second lead, a lead they eked out to 5.3 seconds with three more stage wins on Saturday.
Phil Rogers and Martin Henry had held third with a 12.8-second gap to Wayne Evans after Sunday’s opening Ardfield test. Unfortunately for Rogers that run ended with retirement on the next Glandore stage.
Evans’ time in third only lasted a moment as a strong effort in Sam’s Cross by Tommy McDonagh moved his Ford Escort into the podium positions.
Meanwhile, Williams was keeping the pressure on Davies who was still holding out in the battle of the Welshmen.
An alternator issue finally ruined Williams’ hopes of catching Davies who did well to control his lead for most of the historic’s two days of action. Davies eventually finished 31.2 seconds ahead of Williams who nursed his Escort home in second.
McDonagh’s grip on third strengthened when Evans dropped out with three stages to go, in turn handing fourth to Fergus O’Meara and Anthony O’Sullivan.
Adrian Evans and Sion Jons completed the top five which had a strong Welsh presence to it.
West Cork Rally Historic top five:
1 Davies/Davies (Ford Escort RS 1800) 1:47:52.6s
2 Williams/Hayes (Escort) +31.2s
3 McDonagh/Murphy (Escort) +2:49.3
4 O’Meara/O’Sullivan (BMW M3) +3:35.0
5 Evans/Jones (Escort) +4:40.5
Paul Browne Plant Hire & Civil Engineering Junior ITRC
Darragh Walsh and Gary Lombard overcame a fantastic challenge from Ronan Dorrian and Mickey Joe Browne to seal a 9.1-second junior victory over West Cork’s six Sunday stages.
It was defending West Cork Junior winner Kyle Browne who started the quickest on Glandore, pipping Walsh to the stage win by 1.4 seconds.
Walsh nipped ahead on the next Sam’s Cross test but it was Dorrian who set the fastest time to ensure the top three was only covered by 6.2 seconds heading into the midday service halt.
Another stage win for Dorrian collided with a retirement for Browne, moving Dorrian into second and within 3.2 seconds of the junior lead. He further cut the gap to 2.6 seconds with one to go but an epic fastest time by Walsh over Sam’s Cross ensured he took the hard-fought win aboard his Honda Civic.
Such was the pace at the front, Niall Gaughan and John McLoughlin completed the top three a minute and a half back.
West Cork Rally Junior top five:
1 Walsh/Lombard (Honda Civic) 54:03.6s
2 Dorrian/Browne (Civic) +9.1s
3 Gaughan/McLoughlin (Civic) +1:30.4
4 Hynes/Fallon (Civic) +2:39.2
5 Sheahan/Lynch (Civic) +2:41.9
