Irish and Welsh contests are nothing new in the Quality Hotel West Cork Rally and Denis Cronin and Daragh O’Riordan will have Welsh ace Melvyn Evans as their most formidable opponent when the 13-stage event starts in Clonakilty tomorrow.

Even with three British Rally Championship titles under his belt, Keith Cronin had not been able to progress his career due to a lack of funding.

As night fell, the city moved past the nightmarish scenes of people on fire jumping from buildings and braced itself for more pain: picking through the rubble for the dead and the injured.