Irish Motorsport community mourns the loss of Mallow native Sarah Purcell

THE Irish Motorsport community is mourning the loss of Mallow native Sarah Purcell (nee Moynihan), who passed away on Friday last in the loving care of Marymount Hospice surrounded by her loving family. 

Just 38 years old, Sarah, who lived in Drundowney, Slieverue on the Waterford/Kilkenny border was a talented rally driver having first competed in the Junior section of the 2004 Killarney Rally of the Lakes.

A member of the well-known Moynihan family, Sarah, co-driven by her sister Amy, took her first class win in the 2004 Garda Single Stage Rally in Baltinglass - leading all through. 

The sisters continued to rally a Nisan Micra until the end of the 2006 season concluding with a Class 5 victory in the Marine Hotel Fastnet Rally in Glandore.

Quickly, it became evident she had a unique talent and wasn’t afraid to mix it with her male colleagues, beating many of them at events all around the country.

The following year, they campaigned a Peugeot 206 XSi in the National Rally Championship and along with tarmac events, Sarah also competed in forest (gravel) events. 

A late entry in the 2008 Fastnet Rally, Sarah finished an impressive twenty-seventh overall and second in Class 6.

With her sister Amy continuing to to-drive, they switched to a Mitsubishi Lancer E9 and took a fine twelfth overall in the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally before switching to a Group N Subaru late in 2010. 

With just a handful of events over the next few years, reliability proved an issue although during that time, some of her stage times illustrated her fine turn of speed. In 2018 and 2019, competitive outings in a Honda Civic were few.

Undeterred by her diagnosis in August 2021, Sarah’s strong desire to drive a R5 car was realised when she steered a Skoda Fabia R5 to a top thirty finish in last year’s Mayo Rally, she also contested the West Cork Rally. 

Despite her failing health, she remained determined and finished an incredible twelfth overall in the Circuit of Munster, a possible seventh denied by a scratch time.

Following her Requiem Mass in the Church of the Assumption, Slieverue, Sarah was laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery on Sunday last. She is survived by her husband Andrew, children Zoey, Callum and Ally, parents, Philip and Riona, brother David, sisters Susan, Amy, Sandra and Ellie and her extended family, friends and the motorsport community.