Josh Moffett: 'I don't have time to be dusting off the cobwebs'

The Monaghan native has won four national rally championship titles in five years but isn't taking anything for granted

Thu, 27 Feb, 2025 - 13:14

Martin Walsh

Monaghan's Josh Moffett has raced to an unprecedented four national rally championship titles in just five years that included the two year interruption with the Covid pandemic. However, he is still hungry for more and has declared that "It would be nice to get it a fifth time."
Sunday's Jeremy O'Connor Longford Arms Hotel Midland Rally signals the beginning of another season of national rallying underpinned by Triton Showers.

With the postponement of the Galway International Rally at the beginning of the month it's not surprising that the entry for the nine-stage event - that remembers club stalwart Jeremy O'Connor who passed away last June - still has over 50 entries in reserve. The addition of a number of Irish Tarmac Championship regulars that are utilising the rally as a shakedown for the Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally in two weeks' time adds some extra spice.

So too, will the presence of the Irish World Rally Championship crew of Kilrea's Josh McErlean and Killeagh's Eoin Treacy, who will campaign a Ford Fiesta Rally2 courtesy of Admore Air Conditioning that will have their WRC #55 on the doors and will run first on the road.

Josh Moffett is seeded at number one for what, like so many others, will be the first rally in almost five months. "There's a serious line up behind me and in front (McErlean) of me, everybody is going to be very fast so I don't have time to be blowing off the cobwebs, I need to be going from the word go." The thirty-two year old, who reverted to his older Hyundai i20 R5 for the final rounds of last year's campaign added, "We will stick with the Citroen for the year, we think we have made a bit of progress with it, we will see how the year starts off anyway."

It remains to be seen if the ITRC regulars opt to register for the national series, something that Moffett is acutely aware when asked about the potential threats.

The presence of Josh McErlean (pictured) and Eoin Treacy will add some spice to proceedings

"It's hard to say, quite a few have entered the first round I'm not sure is some of them are planning to do the year or just the first round or what? Sam (his older brother) is going to be there, he was competitive all year (2024) but it's not just Sam (from a national perspective) there's Daniel Cronin and Eddie Doherty as well - last year all of them were in the hunt going into the last round. I know Sam would like to win the championship, so he will be gunning for that."

The younger of the Moffett pair, who won his first national title in 2019 (followed by wins in 2022, 2023 and 2024) can make unique history and win four titles on the bounce. But for now, it's not on his radar. " They (titles) will probably mean more to me in the years to come. Once you get it for a fourth time, you start thinking in your head, it would be nice get it a fifth time, maybe I would be content with that in some way or another."

Comparison of stage times with McErlean should be interesting with the latter benefitting from recent seat time at the top tier of the WRC that should act as a confidence booster.

Welsh ace Matt Edwards will debut a Hyundai i20 N Rally2 as he prepares for his Irish Tarmac Championship bid. Elsewhere, Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty sticks with his Skoda Fabia R5 as Monaghan's Sam Moffett (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) and Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin, who debuts his new Citroen C3 Rally2, will all have eyes on securing as many championship points as possible. The quality entry also features Derry's Desi Henry (Citroen C3 Rally2), Dubliner Robert Barrable (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) along with Donegal's Michael Boyle (VW Polo GTI R5), Declan Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) and local Longford driver Tommy Doyle (Hyundai i20 N Rally2).

The leading two-wheel drive exponents are Donegal's Kevin Gallagher (Darrian T90 GTR), Monaghan pair Gary McPhillips and Michael Carbin and Cavan's Chris Armstrong, all in Ford Escorts. The first stage begins at 9.25am.