Doherty and Murphy take maiden win at Cork 20 Rally as Moffett seals another title 

Second place was enough for Monaghan's Josh Moffett and Wexford co-driver Andy Hayes to clinch the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship for a third time in eight years

FLYING IT: Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty and his Limerick co-driver Tom Murphy (Skoda Fabia Rally2) won the MRF Tyres Cork '20' Rally, the final round of the NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. Doherty is the 71st different driver to have won a round of the ITRC . Pic: Martin Walsh.

Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty and his Limerick co-driver Tom Murphy (Skoda Fabia Rally2) took their maiden victory in a round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship on the MRF Cork '20' Rally, the final round of the series.  

They finished 48.8 seconds ahead of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 of Monaghan's Josh Moffett and his Wexford co-driver Andy Hayes, for whom second place was enough to clinch the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship for a third time in eight years, following victories in 2018 and 2022.  

Donegal's Eamonn Kelly and Sligo's Niall Burns, also in a Toyota, were 7.5 seconds further behind in third. Meanwhile, Dunmanway's Jason McSweeney (Ford Escort WRC), co-driven by Blackpool's Liam Brennan, won the Historic category to clinch the Irish Historic Rally Championship.

A 10-second margin covered the top five after the opening 15km Cobbler's Cross stage that provided a daunting start. Moffett was a little surprised to have set the pace as the morning sun added to the challenge with Doherty, who reckoned he had a "sloppy drive", 1.9s behind and 0.9 ahead of David Kelly's similar Skoda. 

Eamonn Kelly (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), who reckoned his car felt nervous and needed to leave his braking points later, held fourth followed by Welsh ace Matt Edwards (VW Polo GTi R5). Sixth-placed Ballyickey's Daniel Cronin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) was 12.2s off top spot. Doherty was best on SS2 (Lissarda) to trim the deficit to 0.4s with David Kelly third. Derry's Desi Henry was in trouble without a handbrake as his Ford Fiesta Rally2 was locking all four wheels.

Although Moffett lost the lead on SS3 he regained the spot a stage later and arrived at the Macroom service park with a 1.4s lead over Doherty. David Kelly completed the top three as Keelan Grogan (Skoda) was sandwiched between the Kelly duo, David and Eamonn.

Declan Boyle retired his Skoda following an excursion that damaged the radiator while Ryan Loughran (Skoda) withdrew as he felt unwell.

While both stages were described as tough and tricky with many experiencing issues with grip, the afternoon stages at Kilnamartyra and Lough Allua were highly acclaimed as true rally stages. 

Doherty won three of the four with a 4s lead after SS5 culminating into an overnight advantage of 35.5s, he described his pace as comfortable although he had a few close calls over the bumps. Moffett wasn't that concerned as he pointed to tyre choice for his loss of time and underlined his target, saying: "I don't need to win the rally to win the championship." 

A relaxed Eamonn Kelly held third - 19.4s behind Moffett with a beaming Grogan arriving at the finish of the day's final stage (Lough Allua2) having set his first fastest time in a round of the Tarmac campaign.  Edwards lost a few seconds when his Pirelli cap slipped beneath the pedals of his Polo. The overnight top 10 also included Matthew Boyle, David Kelly, Cronin, Casey J Coleman and Desi Henry, the latter still suffering from the handbrake issue.

Wet conditions greeted the crews on Sunday's opening loop of three stages at Coolea, Mullaghanish and Butter Road. Moffett took 11.7s out of Doherty over Coolea as Doherty the grip level was much more than he anticipated, however, he responded well and netted 13.7s from Mullaghanish and 3.1 from Butter Road to stretch his lead to 40.6s. 

Moffett remained calm and viewed the bigger picture that was the Tarmac series. Eamonn Kelly solidified third with a stage win on SS10. 

Behind, the battle for fourth intensified. Edwards, who moved into the spot following the morning opener was being challenged by previous incumbent Grogan, who reclaimed the spot after SS12 albeit by 0.2s as he took his second stage win of the weekend. Edwards felt he was a bit too cautious. Although Grogan put 3.3s between himself and the Welshman on the penultimate stage the latter made a fine retort on the final stage to take fourth and David Kelly's stage win saw Grogan drop to sixth.   

In the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain series in Silverstone, Clonakilty's Michael Keohane, who retired from the first race with a clutch malady took his Keohane Readymix backed Century Motorsport car to a great victory in the Master's category and seventh overall in the day's second race.

In Rallye Elba Storico in Italy, the Kerry/Cork crew of Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Subaru 555) finished second in the Pre-2000 category.