Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage Nine

1^st (3) Michael Barrable/Dermot O’Gorman (WRC) 1.16.04

2^nd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Celica) 1.16.15

3^rd (1) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (WRC) 1.17.00

4^th (5) David Armstrong/Herbie Blackburn (Escort WRC) 1.17.10

5^th (8) Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (WRC) 1.17.32

6^th (17) Alan Nesbitt/Enda Sherry (Celica) 1.19.45

7^th (11) Sean Gallagher/Liam Costello (Escort) 1.20.40

8^th (16) George Robinson/Francis Regan (Escort COS) 1.21.04

9^th (12) Mac McKenna/John Loughran (Peugeot) 1.21.57

10^th (26) Norman Armstrong/Liam Doherty (Escort) 1.22.28

11^th (18) George Cullen/Derek Brannigan (Celica) 1.22.36

Michael Barrable drove faultlessly to victory here today on the Monaghan Stages Rally, co driven by the ever cool Dermot O’Gorman, took the lead early on and excelled in extremely difficult conditions. Michael was over the moon at the finish "we went out to try and finish with some points today, the car never missed a beat, the Evolution Motorsport guys did a great job with the car, maybe the tide has turned for me". Eugene Donnelly was equally happy in second place, a broken exhaust on stage seven not slowing Eugene’s charge over the final stages where he claimed 11 seconds back from Barrable with two fastest times, not bad in his older Envirocare Celica.

Sometimes the luck does not run with you, and after his earlier accident last years Monaghan stages winner Niall Maguire was lucky to get to the finish after his turbo blew on the final stage, and was very aware of David Armstrong maybe catching him. Armstrong could not quite pull it off, but still finishes today a fine fourth only ten seconds down on Maguire. Adrian McElvaney rounded off the top five in his Impreza WRC, the young local lad pleased with his result and admitted to taking it steady over the final three stages, Adrian saying "maybe next year".

Mac McKenna crawled into the finish, his little rwd Peugeot jammed in fourth gear and only running on three cylinders, but still the top 2wd man today, Norman Armstrong really coming on strong towards the end while Pat Boyle looks to have finished just outside the top ten on a total of 1.22.42.

Retirements include Triton Showers man Kevin Barrett who has got his gold Impreza stuck in stage seven while David McNulty is reportedly stopped in the final stage. Young Dessie Keenan looks to have taken class 6 in his Peugeot after another strong showing today, fresh from the Pirelli rally. After stage six Michael Shaw was leading GpN by 22 seconds from a down on power Derrick Jobb, both drivers just into the top 20. Well done to COC Michael McMahon and his team for another supremely run Monaghan stages rally, and many thanks to all those who supported us with the Rallynews service today… No more room Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd