Mayo stars to the fore in sensational rallying season

THE 2024 Irish Rallying season was simply sensational.

It had everything – entry lists bulging at the seams, enthralling racing and an astonishing last-stage finale in the National Championships, all of which saw many Mayo crews travel the length and breadth of the country.

A pair of teenage Mayo drivers also contested the Irish Forestry J1000 series, which saw Donegal’s Oisin McShane crowned the sport’s youngest-ever J1000 driver champion at 15 years of age.

The year began in earnest for many local Mayo crews as they turned their wheels at the Galway International Rally the first weekend of February.

Without doubt the most successful and recognisable local rally team, John Warren and Ruthann O'Connor, flew the McHale Fusion 4 Rally team flag, securing a class win in their infamous 'Green Machine' Toyota.

Little did the public know at the time that this would be a rare outing for the Corolla as the husband and wife team took a journey with a very different path as the year went on – more about that later.

Other local drivers making the short trip across the border into Galway included Westport’s David Healy, who during a very busy 2024 – he claimed a class win in Birr on his way to recording second in the Border Rally Championships.

Also making cameo-like appearances in Galway were Headford’s Justin Ryan and Shrule’s Jason and Noel Murphy.

The Mayo Stages Rally returned in March, and with its return so did a host of local drivers blowing the dust of their chosen chariots!

Belcarra’s Barry Cuffe wheeled out his beautiful Ford Escort Mk 2 and took home silverware, while also claiming class awards were Keith Jacob and Michael Carr in their Subaru, winning Class 15 ahead of Foxford’s James McGreal and Paddy O’Hora.

John Duffy and John Egan chalked up another Mayo Rally start, which put Duffy into the position of third most starts ever in the event!

Martin Cawley, Chris Rose, Colm Conor, Steven Cafferty, Dwayne and Jamie Lally along with John McLoughlin also flew local flags at the event, while the top local crew to finish the event were aforementioned John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor, who retained the Margaret McGreal Cup for their efforts.

As the year wore on, a host of other drivers and co-drivers with connections to the area competed successfully on events.

Brothers Derek and Mervyn Deane from Williamstown unveiled their magnificent Escort Mk 2 on events such as Carlow, Birr and Killarney, while David Doherty, in his Switch2Solar Mitsubishi Evo, travelled to Tipperary, Limerick, Birr and the Galway Summer Rally after debuting the car at Mayo Stages.

Achill’s Brian Lavelle had a year to forget as misfortune followed him around in his ex-Michael Loughney Ford Escort.

Brian has already stopped dwelling on 2024 and is fully focused on 2025 and getting mileage under his belt.

Crossmolina’s Lorcan Moore had an extremely busy year as he sat in the co-driver's seat on 23 events, which even saw him compete in Barbados and somehow find the time to switch over to the driver’s seat to compete in the Clare Forest Rally.

Also busy calling pacenotes was Andrew Grennan, a Monaghan man who is now based in Claremorris running the successful Western Truck and Trailer business. Andrew’s highlight of a busy 2024 was a podium at the Bushwhacker Gravel Rally in Omagh.

Castlebar’s Conor Duffy was another busy co-driver who competed in six events north and south of the border during the year. Jared Gill also proved his worth as a co-driver as along with many Irish starts, the Bofeenaun man also competed in Belgium during the year.

Two young men who need a mention in the Irish Foresty Rally Championships are Aaron Hughes from Ballindine and Bekan’s Adam Ronan, who lined up in the J1000 section and proved the future is bright on the rallying scene.

Returning to the McHale Fusion 4 rally team, as mentioned earlier, John and Ruthann surprised a lot of rally fans as they parked their Corolla and appeared in a purpose-built R5 Fiesta earlier in the year. With the R5 proven as the most successful global rally car ever, John and Ruthann didn't disappoint and blitzed many seasoned R5 drivers at events during the year.

The pair then switched to the more modern version of the Fiesta, the Rally2 model. Both models are built by M-Sport in the UK. The Rally2 model is the most recent and up to date in modern rally car specifications, and John and Ruthann's performances were capped off when the latter retaining the Women’s Champion Award for 2024.

Elsewhere in the motorsport world, former Ballyhaunis Community School woodwork teacher Sean McHugh continued to grow the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy in his role as coordinator and broker deals for Ireland’s young drivers to compete at the top level of motorsport around the world, including the European Rally Championships and at the pinnacle of the sport in the World Rally Championships.

Additionally, Killian Duffy from Claremorris and Ballinrobe’s Andy Walsh took their ‘On the Pacenotes’ rally streaming service to new heights during the year, growing their audience to over 80,000 followers with millions of views worldwide.