Measured win for Moffett and Moriarty in Nenagh

The Longford/Leitrim pairing of Shane Quinn and Stephen Reynolds took a superb second.

Mon, 30 Mar, 2026 - 07:33

Martin Walsh

After moving in to the lead on the fourth stage, Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) and his Limerick co-driver Keith Moriarty took a measured victory in the Nenagh-based Abbey Court Hotel Birr Rally, the second round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.

One of the performances of the rally, that also counted as rounds of the Top part West Coast and Sligo Pallets Border series, was that of the Longford/Leitrim pairing of Shane Quinn/Stephen Reynolds (Ford Fiesta Rally2), who took second place - 6.2s behind the winners. Quinn (22) posted three stage wins including the Power Stage where he gained an additional championship point. The Donegal duo of Kevin Eves/Chris Melly (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) were 9.8s further behind in third.

Skoda debutant Eves punched in the best time on the opening stage near Toomevara where he was 2.7s faster than the Ford Fiesta Rally2 of Jason Dickson with Longford's Tommy Doyle (Hyundai i20 Rally2) 1.6s further behind followed by the Citroen C3 Rally2 of Maynooth's Paul Barrett in a top six completed by Shane Quinn and Josh Moffett.

Several of the top competitors were given the stage interrupted time for SS3 where Derry's Desi Henry's Fiesta Rally2 suffered a rear wheel puncture that delayed a number of crews.

At the Nenagh service park where he was shown in the lead (until the times for SS3 were subsequently amended) Moffett remarked. "I was cautious on the first stage and then on SS3, I had a really strong time. The surface was shiny and wet and very tricky in places."

Eves adapted well to his new Skoda with what he described as a steady pace. Dickson was one of the drivers that was slowed by Henry. Quinn and Barrett were untroubled in their respective fourth and fifth place positions as Gary Kiernan admitted he was off the pace on the first stage but was much happier with his pace on the remaining stages. Henry dropped from seventh to 56th. Also in trouble was Longford's Tommy Doyle, who was forced to retire after he clipped a stone, the impact broke a front left steering arm and he and co-driver Liam Moynihan retired at the stage end.

Moffett moved into the lead on SS4 as one of the performances of the second loop came from Quinn, who was best on SS5 and SS6 to slot into second - 7s behind Moffett and 1.8s ahead of Eves.

While pushing hard, Moffett took a steady pace - backing off over the sections of shiny tar that posed possible dangers. A delighted Quinn remarked, I was clean, no mistakes, I'm getting more comfortable with the car and getting a good feel from it."

Eves too was quite content, "All steady really, the car is more stable at high speed (compared to his former Fiesta) but look there little between all these cars, I probably need to sharpen my driving (to reel in Quinn) on the last loop now."

Dickson in fourth had a good second loop and remained in contention for a podium spot as Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin had a better second loop but admitted he was still off the pace from those ahead, he was sixth from Ryan McHugh (Ford Fiesta rally2), who was certainly more committed than his opening loop as he rounded out the top seven.

Henry's woes continued, issues with the rear differential caused his Fiesta to break away, the problem much more prominent during the second loop. Meanwhile, Jonathan Pringle (Ford Escort) in eighth place took control of the Modified category as Keelan Grogan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Aaron McIntyre (Toyota Starlet) rounded out the top ten.

Weather conditions were vastly improved for the final loop of stages with many of the top contenders on a wet tyre. Moffett added a few precious seconds on stages seven and eight and while his wet compound tyres were going off in the drying conditions he did enough to seal his first national win of the season. Elsewhere,, the Cavan/Sligo pairing of Oran England/Darragh Mullen (Peugeot 208 Rally4) were the top finishers in the Stellantis Rally Cup Ireland category.