Day 3: Drama to the end at the final stages of the Donegal International Rally

The Donegal International Rally has come to an end for the 2024 year with Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan retaining their crown, but this time in the Skoda Rally 2, with a winning margin of 17.4 seconds ahead of Meirion Evans and Ger Conway. 

Evans closed the gap between himself and leader Callum Devine by 17 seconds as they went into the final stage of the rally, and with only 20km left at that point, it was still all to play for with only 20 seconds between the pairs. 

But Devine and O’Sullivan held on for their lives and saw out the race comfortably.  

After a day of high drama, the event finished with the all-Donegal crew of David Kelly and Dean O’Sullivan finishing on the podium in third position in their VW Polo, 26.4 seconds off the leaders and eventual winners, and nine seconds behind Evans in second, but it was a superb weekend for the driver from Donegal Town overall. 

It was a disappointing day for the overnight leaders Matt Edwards and David Moynihan who lost a lot of time due to a quick spin late on in the day, putting them fourth overall in their Ford Fiesta, 36.8 seconds behind the winners and nine seconds off the podium. 

Edwards and Moynihan entered Atlantic Drive in the lead on Sunday, but they drove into a wall and damaged the car before limping out of the stage, losing just under a minute which put them down into third position in the overall standing. 

Atlantic Drive had not been kind to Edwards in the past, with the Welshman also hitting the wall at that stage two years ago which brought an end to his rally weekend 

While former winner Josh Moffett alongside Andy Hayes finished fifth overall in the Citroen C2R2 to make up the top five. 

In the modified section, Declan Gallagher took the honours in what was a great day for him as he took the lead early on Sunday morning with the Donegal man gaining points due to the fact he was delayed on Friday from a Mark Alcorn crash which interrupted his drive and allowed him to overtake the original leader at the end of the second day, Kevin Gallagher. 

But things went from bad to worse for the Rathmullan man who was going for two in-a-row in the two-wheel drive category, with Gallagher suffering from a technical issue when a wire broke in his Darrian T90, which ultimately put an end to his chances of winning three titles in-a-row on Sunday. 

Declan Gallagher finished in ninth position overall and finished the winner of Class 14, with Gallagher being one out of five Donegal crews to make up the top 10 board for the rally. 

Going down the list, the RC4 category, which saw real stiff competition throughout, saw Frosses native Ryan McHugh taking the title ahead of Carndonagh man Kyle McBride, while Tommy O’Connell won the Historic category, and Jason Wilkinson was the winner in the Junior category in a Honda Civic.