Top seed and leader of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship Michael O’Brien (Ford Focus WRC) can expect a stern test in tomorrow’s Donegal Forest Rally, the second round of the campaign.

The new Triton Showers National Rally Championship got underway with the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally and victory went to Donegal’s Donagh Kelly (Ford Focus WRC) and his Derry co-driver Kevin Flanagan.

Motorsport: A new season of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship is marked by a very competitive entry for tomorrow’s Donegal Forest Rally in Pettigoe.

By Sean O’Riordan, Irish Examiner

Cork-born racing driver Matt Griffin has signed for the Silverstone-based Ram Racing and will contest the European Le Mans Series (ELMS).

Galway’s Dean Raftery and Monaghan’s Daniel McKenna and Stephen Wright have been shortlisted for the 2012 Billy Coleman Award with a top prize of €50,000.

Irish driver Craig Breen on board his Kel-Tech liveried Ford Fiesta won the S2000 World Rally Championship after he secured a category win on the Rally de Espana, the final round of the series.

Local hero Darragh O’Riordan (Subaru WRC) bids to record back-to-back wins in this weekend’s Orchard Motorsport Cork ‘20’ International Rally as Armagh’s Darren Gass (Subaru WRC) aims to seal his inaugural Irish Tarmac title with Fermanagh’s Garry Jennings, the only other driver that can win the title, a doubtful starter.

Remarkably, for the fifth time in recent years, the Carlton Hotel Circuit of Kerry Rally, the third round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship, ended in a tie-break.

SWORDS driver Robert Barrable (Skoda Fabia S2000)held off the spirited challenge of Midleton’s Daragh O’Riordan (Subaru WRC) to take an 11 second victory in the Sligo Park Hotel Rally, round six of the Dunlop National Rally Championship.

A Tallaght father-of-two was jailed for seven years with the last four suspended for possessing nearly €60,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis in his home.

OUTGOING London senior football team manager Noel Dunning has revealed he is among the nominations for the vacant post as county board officials continue to push for a three-man selection team.

DIT 0-18 Kilkenny 2-6

AN Irish student who lost one of his best friends in the Virginia Tech shootings has said it must not discourage Irish students from going to America for an education.