Niall Maguire claims rally win despite late puncture

Leading all the way, Monaghan’s Niall Maguire (Subaru WRC), co-driven by James O’Reilly, survived a final-stage puncture to win the Lady Gregory Hotel Galway Summer Rally in Gort.

They entered the final stage with a lead in excess of a minute. While the puncture cost them valuable time, they hung on to win by 4.7 seconds. Gary Kiernan/Ryan Moore (Escort) were second with Paddy McVeigh/Gary McElhinney (Subaru WRC) a further 2.4 seconds behind in third.

Maguire led after the opening stage, posting a time 2.2 seconds better than the Escort of Damien Toner with the Subaru WRC of Paddy McVeigh a further 1.4 seconds behind in third. Completing the loop, Maguire arrived at the Gort service park with a lead of 34.3 seconds with the Escort of Gary Kiernan in second spot 3.3 seconds in front of Galwegian Paul Curley (Subaru WRC).