Although four crews were within a two-second time frame after the opening stage of the Abbey Hotel Munster Moonraker Forest Rally in Ballyvourney, (round three of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship), all changed a stage later as Derry’s Marty McCormack and his Mallow co-driver David Moynihan powered their Tiger Risk Partners Skoda Fabia R5 into a 28.9 second lead which laid the foundation for overall victory.

The upsurge in Irish Forest rallying continues as over 80 crews line up for tomorrow’s Abbey Hotel Munster Moonraker Rally in Ballyvourney.

Taking the lead on the sixth stage, Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Ford Fiesta R5) and co-driver Stephen Thornton won the Silvermines-based Treaty Plant Hire Limerick Forest Rally, the second round of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship.

For the third year in a row, Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin and Cavan’s Stephen McCann face one another at the six-stage Banna Beach Resort Kerry Winter Rally.

Monaghan’s Sam Moffett (Fiesta R5) and his Bandon co-driver Karl Atkinson won the Acesigns Cork “20” International Rally following a pulsating battle with Josh Moffett/Keith Moriarty (Fiesta R5).

Leading from the start Welsh driver Steve Wood (Subaru WRC) and his Limerick co-driver Keith Moriarty took a relatively comfortable victory in the Volkswagen Wexford Rally where they finished 40 seconds ahead of the Fiesta WRC of Maynooth’s Ian Barrett/Eoin O’Flaherty. 

James Cooney was the star of the Munster Junior A action last weekend, beating Michael Murphy by three bowls after a scintillating 10 shot salvo at Whitechurch on Sunday.

80 new jobs have been announced for Dublin.

Setting a cracking pace and mastering the wet conditions, Monaghan’s Sam Moffett (Ford Fiesta WRC) guided by Cavan’s James Fulton won the Abbey Court Hotel Nenagh Rally, the opening round of the Triton National Rally Championship.

Following a winter of uncertainty, Irish rallying springs into action tomorrow with the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Championship.

Tyre choice for the final pair of stages proved crucial and decisive as Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Shane Buckley won the Banna Beach Resort Kerry Winter Rally for the second time in three years.

Motorsport Ireland chief executive Alex Sinclair is confident that a ruling from the European Court of Justice - which has the potential to have detrimental effects for motorsport across the EU - will be amended.

Scottish ace David Bogie (Skoda Fabia R5) was expected to win the Longford Arms Hotel Midland Rally and while he did, he hadto fashion a late recovery to oust long time leader and former winner Paddy McVeigh (Subaru WRC).

Coping admirably with challenging conditions, the Fermanagh/Letterkenny partnership of Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy (Subaru WRC) were too good for the opposition as they netted a convincing victory in the Hotel Ballina/Kennedy Motors Mayo Rally, the first round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.

The Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship went down to the final stage of the final round, the Glens of Antrim Rally, where fourth place was enough for Monaghan’s Josh Moffett to lift the crown after his only title rival, former champion Michael O’Brien, slid his Ford Focus WRC off the track towards the end of the final stage.

Motorsport.

Cork driver Matt Griffin and his AF Corse team-mates, Briton Duncan Cameron and Italian Michele Rugolo, were out of luck in the 4 Hours of Estoril, the final round of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS).

Motorsport: A strong performance over the first run of the stage paved the way for Lisburn’s Wesley Patterson (Ford Escort) and his co-driver Johnny Baird to claim victory in the Cloyne-based AceSigns-sponsored Imokilly Single Stage Rally.

The make-up of next season’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship is one of the main topics on the Tarmac Rally Organisers Association (TROA) agenda in Dublin on Sunday.

David Murphy has his Munster senior championship campaign back on track after a last-shot win over John Creedon at Kealkill.

A two-minute road penalty cost Waterford’s Craig Breen (Peugeot 207 S2000) the overnight lead in the Rallye International du Valais in Switzerland, the final round of the European Rally Championship.

THOMAS MACKLE finished with three exceptional bowls to beat Eamon Bowen Jnr by well over a bowl at Carraig na bhFear on Sunday.

MARTIN COPPINGER extended the possibilities of the Markethill Road near Keady beyond what could ever be imagined when he won the Joe McVeigh Cup yesterday by close to four bowls of odds after just nine throws to the threequarter mark.

ALL-IRELAND champion Martin Coppinger has a chance to show his true talent by winning the Joe McVeigh Cup at the Ból-Fada Festival in Keady, Armagh on Sunday.

GARY DALY’S senior career came of age on Sunday when he beat All-Ireland champion Martin Coppinger in the last shot of a pulsating Joe O’Sullivan Acorn Life Cup final at Castletownbere.

DAVID O’MAHONY beat David Hubbard by a bowl of odds in the Champy Deasy Cup final at Grange on Sunday.

A jury in the Central Criminal Court trial of a Louth man accused of orally raping a woman with learning difficulties have watched a video of her interview with gardaí.

The owner of a children's clothing store in Swords whose vicious stabbing left his victim's intestines protruding from his body has been jailed for 10 years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

REFEREES were kept plenty busy in the WJ Dolan Tyrone SFC quarter-finals over the weekend with eight players dismissed as Dromore, Ardboe, Clonoe and Donaghmore booked semi-final spots.

n engineer has given evidence at the trial of a man accused of stabbing another in the abdomen causing his intestines to protrude from his body, that lighting conditions at the scene were "very dark".

The jury in the trial of a 36 year-old man accused of stabbing another man causing him serious harm, has heard that a youth made a statement to gardaí following the incident during which he identified the accused from a set of 12 photographs shown to him.

The trial arising out of the stabbing of a man whose intestines were left protruding from his body has continued with legal issues in the absence of the jury before Judge Frank O'Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

A man whose bowel and intestines were left protruding from his body in an attack seven years ago has refused to give evidence at the trial of a man accused of stabbing him.

A Donegal man has been found not guilty of raping a teenage girl in his car over three years ago.

A cocaine addict who has been jailed for three years for using stolen laser bank cards to buy cash and goods totalling €6,672 in value may not live to complete the prison sentence.

The alleged leader of the Real IRA is expected to go on trial for directing terrorism in January next year.