Dramatic finish to O'Connell Group Cork 20 Rally

Donegal's Michael Boyle/Dermot McCafferty (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) won an exciting O'Connell Group Cork 20 Rally that brought the curtain down on the NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. 

They finished nine seconds in front of the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 of Declan Boyle (Michael's father) and his co-driver Welshman Patrick Walsh with the Ulster pairing of Ryan Loughran/Dale McGettigan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 26.8s further behind in third. The Clonakilty/Rosscarbery crew of Cal McCarthy/Eric Calnan (Citroen C3 Rally2) were the top County Cork crew - they finished fifth while Ovens driver Owen Murphy, also in a Citroen C3 Rally2) and co-driven by Limerick's Anthony Nestor finished eighth overall.

The slippery conditions, remnants of Storm Amy, made for a difficult opening loop of stages to the south-east of Rathcormac. Michael Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) mastered them best on SS1 where Clonakilty's David Guest retired his Ford Fiesta Rally2 within the opening three kilometres of the stage, he returned later under Super Rally. 

Another West Cork driver, Daniel Cronin, who spun on the on the first stage and was twelfth in classification, crashed on SS2 when his Citroen C3 Rally2 clipped a rock and rolled out of contention. All the competitors, with the exception of top seed Declan Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) received a nominal time.

The rally quickly developed into a battle between Michael Boyle and Desi Henry, who was best on SS3 to take a 2.4s lead. They traded times and places on the second loop with Boyle reclaiming the lead after SS4 only for Henry to go ahead a stage later and then extend his lead to 5.3s on the sixth stage. Boyle lost time with brake issues that were traced to the wheel hub. Behind the leading pair, Declan Boyle, was a further 14.7s adrift in third followed by the Ford Fiesta Rally2 cars of Ryan Loughran and Matthew Boyle and the Skoda of Casey J. Coleman.

Henry dominated all three stages of the day's final loop to lead 16.1s at the overnight halt with Boyle reckoning his Skoda wasn't handling correctly.

Declan Boyle's Skoda benefitted from a change of springs and some suspension tweaks. Outside the top three, Ryan Loughran and Matthew Boyle, both in Ford Fiesta Rally2 's and Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) completed the top six. Ovens driver Owen Murphy was ninth, during the day changes to the suspension and springs made the handling of his Citroen C3 Rally2 much more responsive.

The battle for supremacy raged on yesterday's (Sunday) opening loop of three stages where Michael Boyle took three stages wins to cut the deficit to 5.1s. But Henry made a good response on SS13 and moved 10.2s clear.

The penultimate stage brought drama a plenty. Henry slid off into a field and dropped time and eventually stopped before the stage finish as Michael Boyle found himself back in front for the third time but on this occasion, leading his father Declan by 19.3s. He was able to ease off and take a famous first ITRC event victory.