Josh Moffett claims start-to-finish Boggeragh victory with brother Sam in second

Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5), co-driven by Dromtarriffe's Gavin J. Downey, took a start-to-finish victory in the O'Leary's Building & ICF Boggeragh Rallysprint near Nad in north Cork. Pic: Martin Walsh.

Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5) took family honours with a start-to-finish victory in the O'Leary's Building & ICF Boggeragh Rallysprint near Nad in north Cork, where he beat his older brother Sam, who was double-driving the same car. 

Josh, co-driven by Dromtarriffe's Gavin J. Downey, finished 20.4s ahead of Sam and his Monaghan co-driver James O'Reilly. 

Carrick-on-Suir's James Dunphy and Bruff's Greg Shinnors (Ford Fiesta R5) took third - 6.3s further behind. 

The chase for fourth and indeed Class 5A went down to the wire as Kilkenny's Jack Brennan (Ford Fiesta Rally3) edged out the similar car of Fordstown's (Co. Meath) Cian Caldwell by a mere two tenths of a second.

A margin of 4.2s covered the top three after the first of the four timed runs with Josh Moffett quickest - 2.5s ahead of brother Sam, both piloting the Hyundai i20 R5. They also double drove a Metro engined Ford Escort. 

Dunphy (Ford Fiesta R5) was another 1.5s behind in third. While extolling the power output of the Escort on the straights, leader Moffett was far more comfortable in his trusty Hyundai i20 R5, his brother Sam was on his first gravel stage in almost three years.

Cian Caldwell on his first outing in an ex-M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally3, held an impressive fourth and while he was 13.4s off top spot, his performance saw him four tenths of a second ahead of the time set by Josh Moffett when the latter steered the Metro-engined Ford Escort. 

Caldwell led Class 5A - 1.1s ahead of former Billy Coleman award winner Kilkenny's Jack Brennan, also in a Ford Fiesta Rally3. The top six was completed by the Mitsubishi Lancer E9 of Navan's Alan Shinnors. 

Top seed and last year's winner, Cashel's Pat O'Connell (Ford Fiesta R5), had a troubled run, issues with the coil pack halfway through the 5.6km stage saw him drop time. He was ninth and 20.2s behind the lead.

Clipping 5.3s of his initial time, Josh Moffett extended his lead after the second run to 8s with his brother Sam still his closest pursuer. 

"Yeah, I had a good clean run, I think there's still a bit more (time to be gained) on the third run." 

Sam picked up 2.3s on his previous time. Dunphy continued in third but was happy that he was still only 9.1s off top spot. Caldwell maintained fourth as Brennan, one place behind cut the deficit to a mere tenth of a second.

 O'Connell, with the misfire sorted, climbed to sixth from Josh Moffett (Ford Escort) in seventh in a top ten completed by Conor Kelly (Ford Fiesta), Alan Shinnors (Mitsubishi Lancer E9) and Alan Whelan (Subaru Impreza).

On the third run, Josh Moffett further extended his lead to 11.6s with Sam (Moffett) clipping a bale at the start of the stage. 

There were no changes to the top seven - the battle for supremacy for fourth and indeed Class 5A remained with Cian Caldwell, who extended his lead over Brennan by another tenth of a second.

The organisers managed to fit in a fourth run as Josh Moffett completed a clean sweep of fastest times to claim victory. 

The Moffett brothers opted not to contest the final stage in the Escort and received a nominal time. Afterwards, winner Josh said: "It's been a great day down here, I thoroughly enjoyed it, a really nice driving stage. Well done to the organisers and the marshals."

Meanwhile in other events over the festive season, Clonmel's Casey Jay Coleman took the RLA hired Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 to a strong victory in the Carlow Rallysprint at Mondello Park. Quickest on each of the five timed runs, he finished 29.9s ahead of Carlow's David Condell, who double drove the same car. Wexford's Tomas O'Rourke (Mitsubishi Lancer E10) was third - just 1.4s further behind.

In the Cavan Autocross, the experienced Joe Smith (Ford Escort) edged out Meath's Brian Brady (Honda Civic) by 2.1s with Jack Maguire (Honda Civic) third. 

Thomas Wedlock (Casmat) won the Buggy section from Evan Curran (La Base) and Jack Newman (Mygale), who completed the podium line-up.

O'Leary's Building & ICF Boggeragh Rallysprint, Nad: 1. J. Moffett/G. J. Downey (Hyundai i20 R5) 11m. 07.7s; 2. S. Moffett/J. O'Reilly (Hyundai i20 R5)+20.4s; 3. J. Dunphy/G. Shinnors (Ford Fiesta R5)+26.7s; 4. J. Brennan/D. Harrington (Ford Fiesta Rally3)+48.6s; 5. C. Caldwell/D. Long (Ford Fiesta Rally3)+48.8s; 6. P. O'Connell/M. Wiley (Ford Fiesta R5) +51.8s; 7. C. Kelly/A. O'Regan (Ford Fiesta)+1m. 02.4s; 8. A. Shinnors/B. Duggan (Mitsubishi Lancer E9)+1m. 24.2s; 9. M. Murphy/S. Murphy (Subaru Impreza)+1m. 47.0s; 10. D. Brady/L. Callaghan (Ford Fiesta Rally4)+1m. 49.6s.

Carlow Rallysprint (Mondello Park): 1. C. J. Coleman (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) 21m. 17.9s; 2. D. Condell (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+29.9s; 3. T. O'Rourke (Mitsubishi Lancer E10)+31.3s; 4. B. O'Neill (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+48.3s; 5. T. Holton (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+54.4s; 6. James Bradley (Ford Escort)+1m. 06.8s.