Doherty Takes Cork 20 Glory as Moffett Seals ITRC Crown
NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship
Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy delivered a commanding breakthrough performance to claim their maiden Irish Tarmac victory on the MRF Tyres Cork 20 Rally. Yet even their emphatic win could not prevent Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes from securing another NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally Championship title.
Moffett drew first blood, setting the pace on Cork 20’s fast and committed opening stage as the chasing pack struggled to find full confidence. Both Doherty and David Kelly admitted to untidy runs, but Doherty responded immediately. Although still dissatisfied with his driving, he went fastest on stage two and repeated the feat on stage three, edging 0.5 seconds ahead of the championship leader.
Moffett reclaimed the lead on stage four, only for Doherty to answer in emphatic fashion. Rain swept across stage five and transformed the contest, unsettling much of the field. Doherty mastered the changing grip to set a blistering time, 5.4 seconds quicker than anyone else, and retook a lead he would never surrender. From there, the Kilkenny crew dominated the remainder of Saturday and carried a formidable 35.5-second advantage into Sunday.
A brief setback on stage nine did little to disturb Doherty’s charge. His pace over the remaining tests carried him comfortably to a first international rally victory. Moffett, meanwhile, needed only a podium finish to secure the championship and approached Sunday’s treacherous conditions with calculated restraint. The Toyota Yaris Rally2 crew’s runner-up position was never seriously threatened, allowing Moffett and Hayes to complete their title-winning campaign in assured fashion.
Eamonn Kelly made an impressive return to Rally2 machinery. His Toyota Yaris initially felt nervous beneath him, but once settled he found a rhythm that produced stage victories on tests ten and 13. A five-second gain on the latter cemented third place and rounded off another memorable weekend following his recent Ulster Historic triumph.
Returning to Irish competition after more than a year away, Matt Edwards fought his way to fourth. The Welshman recovered from an early overshoot, climbed steadily through the order and set the second-fastest time on stage nine. His late duel with Keelan Grogan and David Kelly went all the way to Cork’s final test.
Grogan’s debut in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 was one of the weekend’s standout stories. The Leitrim driver claimed two stage wins and held fourth before Edwards and Circuit of Ireland winner David Kelly swept past on the decisive final stage.
MRF Tyres Cork 20 Rally top five:
1 Doherty/Murphy (Skoda Fabia Rally2) 1:53:49.6s
2 Moffett/Hayes (Toyota Yaris Rally2) +48.8s
3 E.Kelly/Burns (Toyota Yaris Rally2) +56.3
4 Edwards/Stoneman (Volkswagen Polo R5) +1:23.1
5 D.Kelly/Buckley (Skoda Fabia Rally2) +1:28.6
McEvoy Motorsport & Flat 2 The Hat Modified ITRC
Daniel McKenna and Andrew Grennan overcame early rear-end handling problems in their Ford Escort Mk2 to score a convincing Modified victory. McKenna shared the opening-stage benchmark with Padraig Egan, while Kenneth Cullinane and Vincent O’Shea traded places behind them as Egan established himself at the head of Class 14.
McKenna turned the contest on stage five, snatching a slender 0.2-second lead that he would not relinquish. By Saturday evening, the Donegal crew had stretched its advantage over Egan to 14.2 seconds, with Cullinane holding third. That cushion provided the platform for a controlled final day, and McKenna continued to pull clear across Sunday’s six stages to win by more than a minute in the County Cork countryside.
Cork 20 Modified top five:
1 McKenna/Grennan (Ford Escort Mk2) 2:03:04.4s
2 Egan/Ryan (Ford Escort) +1:01.0s
3 Cullinane/O'Regan (Darrian T90 GTR) +2:02.3
4 Walsh/Doonan (Ford Escort) +3:09.5
5 Fitzpatrick/Reade (Ford Escort Mk1) +9:07.7
Wales Motorsport Historic ITRC
Jason McSweeney and Liam Brennan saved their finest attack for the final stage, claiming both Cork 20 Historic honours and the 2026 Wales Motorsport Historic ITRC title after a gripping season-ending showdown with Ray Breen and Damien Morrissey.
Breen struck first in his Subaru Legacy, but McSweeney’s Ford Escort WRC answered with a stage win on test four. McSweeney then made a decisive break on stage six, extending his advantage by 12.3 seconds. Behind the leaders, Michael McDaid and Ronan Campbell were separated by just 0.6 seconds in a fierce fight for fourth before both moved ahead of Adrian Evans and into the battle for third as Saturday drew to a close.
Campbell’s title challenge suffered a costly blow on stage ten when he conceded 20 seconds to Evans and slipped to fourth. At the front, Breen refused to yield. A succession of late stage wins cut McSweeney’s advantage to only 7.2 seconds, setting up a winner-takes-all final test.
McSweeney held his nerve when it mattered most. A flat-out run through the deciding stage secured victory by 32.8 seconds and delivered the Historic ITRC crown in a suitably dramatic finale to the season.
Alongside Adrian Evans, Jordan Jones finished fourth to secure the Wales Motorsport Historic ITRC Co-Drivers’ title.
Cork 20 Historic top five:
1 McSweeney/Brennan (Ford Escort WRC) 2:08:53.7s
2 Breen/Morrissey (Subaru Legacy) +32.8s
3 McDaid/Stubbs (BMW M3) +6:12.0
4 Evans/Jones (BMW M3) +7:15.1
5 Campbell/Greaney (Ford Escort Mk2) +8:25.7
Paul Browne Plant Hire & Civil Engineering Junior ITRC
Aaron and Caolan Reid emerged from a dramatic final-stage twist with both the Cork 20 Junior Rally victory and the Paul Browne Plant Hire & Civil Engineering Junior ITRC title.
Darragh Walsh and Gary Lombard had controlled the event throughout Saturday, winning each of the opening seven stages, only for their campaign to end in heartbreak with retirement on the final test. Their misfortune elevated the Reids to victory, while Catherine Walsh and Ava O’Driscoll took second and Darragh Mullins and Sophie Byrnes completed the podium.
Cork 20 Junior top three:
1 Reid/Reid (Honda Civic) 1:17:05.8s
2 C.Walsh/O'Driscoll (Honda Civic) +5:21.3
3 Mullins/Byrnes (Honda Civic) +5:55.6