Busy but successful year for Mayo rally crews
Aaron Hughes from Ballindine who took part in the J1000 in 2024.
Motorsport: Plenty of Mayo crews played their part in what has been a sensational 2024 Irish rallying season. It had everything – entry lists bulging at the seams, enthralling racing and an astonishing last-stage finale in the National Championships. Mayo crews travelled the length and breadth of the country, including a pair of teenagers who contested the Irish Forestry J1000 series which saw Donegal’s Oisin McShane crowned the sport’s youngest-ever J1000 driver champion at 15 years of age.
The year began in earnest for many local Mayo crews when they turned their wheels at the Galway International Rally on the first weekend of February. Without doubt the most successful and recognisable local rally team, John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor, flew the McHale Fusion 4 Rally team flag securing a class win in their famous Green Machine Toyota. Little did the public know at the time that this would be a rare outing for the Corolla as the husband and wife team took a journey with a very different path as the year went on (more about that later). Other local drivers making the short trip across the border into Galway included Westport’s David Healy, who during a very busy 2024 claimed a class win in Birr on his way to recording second in the Border Rally Championships. Also making cameo-like appearances in Galway were Headford’s Justin Ryan and Shrule’s Jason and Noel Murphy.
The Mayo Stages Rally returned in March and with its return so did a host of local drivers blow the dust of their chosen chariots. Belcarra’s Barry Cuffe wheeled out his beautiful Ford Escort Mk2 taking home silverware, and also claiming class awards were Keith Jacob and Michael Carr in their Subaru who won Class 15 ahead of Foxford’s James McGreal and Paddy O’Hora. John Duffy and John Egan chalked up another Mayo Rally which put Duffy into the position of third most Mayo Rally starts ever. Martin Cawley, Chris Rose, Colm Conor, Steven Cafferty, Dwayne and Jamie Lally along with John McLoughlin also few local flags on the event. The top local crew to finish the event were aforementioned John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor who retained the Margaret McGreal Cup for their efforts.
As the year wore on, a host of other drivers and co drivers with connections to the area competed successfully on events. Brothers Derek and Mervyn Deane from Williamstown unveiled their magnificent Escort Mk2 in Carlow, Birr and Killarney. David Doherty, in his Switch2Solar Mitsubishi Evo, travelled to Tipperary, Limerick, Birr and the Galway Summer Rally after debuting the car at the Mayo Stages.
Achill’s Brian Lavelle had a year to forget as misfortune followed him around in his ex-Michael Loughney Ford Escort. Brian has already stopped dwelling on 2024 and is fully focused on 2025 and getting mileage under his belt.
Crossmolina’s Lorcan Moore had an extremely busy year as he sat in the co-driver’s seat on 23 events, which even saw him compete in Barbados. He somehow also found the time to switch over to the driver’s seat and compete in Clare Forest Rally. Also busy calling Pacenotes was Andrew Grennan, a Monaghan man who is now based in Claremorris running the successful Western Truck and Trailer business, Andrew’s highlight was a podium at the Bushwhacker Gravel Rally in Omagh. Castlebar’s Conor Duffy was another busy co-driver who competed in six events north and south of the border during the year. Jared Gill also proved his worth as a co-driver as along with many Irish starts the Bofeenaun man also competed in Belgium during the year.
Two young men needing a mention in the Irish Foresty Rally Championships are Aaron Hughes from Ballindine and Bekan’s Adam Ronan who lined up in the J1000 section and proved the future is bright on the rallying scene.
Returning to the McHale Fusion 4 Rally team as mentioned earlier, John and Ruthann surprised a lot of rally fans when they parked their Green Machine Corolla and appeared in a purpose built R5 Fiesta. With the R5 proven as the most successful global rally car ever, John and Ruthann didn't disappoint and blitzed many seasoned R5 drivers at events during the year. The pair then switched to the more modern version of the Fiesta, the Rally2 model; both models are built by M-Sport in the UK with the latter the most recent and most up to date in modern rally car specifications. Their performances where capped off with Ruthann retaining the Women’s Champion Award for 2024.
Elsewhere, former Ballyhaunis Community School woodwork teacher Sean McHugh continued to grow the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy in his role as coordinator and brokered deals for Ireland’s young rally drivers to compete at the pinnacle of the sport around the world including the European Rally Championships and the World Rally Championships. Killian Duffy from Claremorris and Ballinrobe’s Andy Walsh also took their ‘On the Pacenote’ rally streaming service to new heights during the year, growing their audience to over 80,000 followers with millions of views worldwide.
