Doherty extends the lead again, but don’t write off Boyle the elder
The lead Eddie Doherty now has in the rally is 9.9s over Michael Boyle, who now must be looking very nervously over his shoulder for “the ould fella”. Declan took quite a sizeable 4.9s out of Michael on SS6 and as good as matched Doherty’s time, only 0.2s slower. Would it beyond the bounds of possibility that Boyle the elder could catch Doherty, tomorrow’s supposedly bad weather forecast could have a lot to say about that. Daniel Cronin now has only bo.1s to spare over Gary Kiernan, who put in the 4th fastest time on the stage. Mathew Boyle along with Kiernan both moved ahead of James Stafford, who will not be too pleased to see the rain starting to fall as we write this. Behind Stafford, Aidan Wray and Shane Quinn have swapped places, with Casey Jay Coleman steadying the ship in 10th.
What we have so far
| O/A | Car | Driver/Codriver | Make | Class | Pos | SS6 | Road | Total | Diff 1st | Diff Prev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (=) | 2 | Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy | Skoda Fabia | 5 | O/A | 5:55.6 | 0:00 | 37:31.9 | ||
| 2 (=) | 3 | Michael Boyle/Declan Boyle | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | 5 | O/A | 6:00.7 | 0:00 | 37:41.8 | 0:09.9 | 0:09.9 |
| 3 (=) | 1 | Declan Boyle/Patrick Walsh | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | 5 | O/A | 5:55.8 | 0:00 | 37:47.5 | 0:15.6 | 0:05.7 |
| 4 (=) | 7 | Daniel Cronin/Padraig O’Donovan | Citroen C3Rally2 | 5 | 1 | 6:23.2 | 0:00 | 38:23.2 | 0:51.3 | 0:35.7 |
| 5 (+1) | 4 | Gary Kiernan/John McCabe | Ford Fiesta | 5 | 2 | 6:08.9 | 0:00 | 38:23.3 | 0:51.4 | 0:00.1 |
| 6 (+1) | 6 | Matthew Boyle/Gary Byrne | Ford Fiesta Rally2 | 5 | 3 | 6:19.1 | 0:00 | 38:40.3 | 1:08.4 | 0:17.0 |
| 7 (-2) | 5 | James Stafford/Richard Cleary | Darrian T90 GTR | 14 | 1 | 6:38.3 | 0:00 | 38:46.1 | 1:14.2 | 0:05.8 |
| 8 (+1) | 14 | Aidan Wray/Paddy McCrudden | VW Polo GTI R5 | 5 | 4 | 6:19.0 | 0:00 | 38:54.4 | 1:22.5 | 0:08.3 |
| 9 (-1) | 9 | Shane Quinn/Stephen Reynolds | Ford Fiesta Rally2 | 5 | 5 | 6:24.7 | 0:00 | 38:58.2 | 1:26.3 | 0:03.8 |
| 10 (=) | 15 | Casey Jay Coleman/Michael Gilbey | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | 5 | 6 | 6:26.2 | 0:00 | 39:01.9 | 1:30.0 | 0:03.7 |
| 11 (=) | 8 | Andrew Purcell/Eoghan Doherty | Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 | 5 | 7 | 6:35.8 | 0:00 | 39:34.7 | 2:02.8 | 0:32.8 |
| 12 (+1) | 21 | Joseph Kelly/Killian McArdle | Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 | 5 | 8 | 6:38.4 | 0:00 | 40:00.4 | 2:28.5 | 0:25.7 |
| 13 (+1) | 11 | Cal McCarthy/Eric Calnan | Citroen C3 Rally 2 | 5 | 9 | 6:38.5 | 0:00 | 40:06.8 | 2:34.9 | 0:06.4 |
| 14 (-2) | 17 | Mark Alcorn/John O’Donnell | Ford Escort Mk2 | 14 | 2 | 7:02.8 | 0:00 | 40:08.5 | 2:36.6 | 0:01.7 |
| 15 (+1) | 35 | Keelan Grogan/Darragh Mullen | Peugeot 208 Rally 4 | 2 | 1 | 6:49.0 | 0:00 | 40:32.5 | 3:00.6 | 0:24.0 |
| 16 (+1) | 23 | Frank Wray/Joe McNulty | VW VW Polo Gti R5 | 5 | 10 | 6:47.6 | 0:00 | 40:34.3 | 3:02.4 | 0:01.8 |
| 17 (+5) | 36 | Cian Caldwell/Paul McPhillips | Peugeot 208 Rally4 | 2 | 2 | 6:44.3 | 0:00 | 40:59.9 | 3:28.0 | 0:25.6 |
| 18 (+3) | 18 | Richard Moore/Enda Kennedy | Ford Fiesta | 5 | 11 | 6:52.1 | 0:00 | 41:03.0 | 3:31.1 | 0:03.1 |
| 19 (+5) | 44 | Tomas O’Rourke/Dylan Harrington | Mitsubishi Evo 10 | 20 | 1 | 6:38.6 | 0:00 | 41:04.9 | 3:33.0 | 0:01.9 |
| 20 (-2) | 25 | Frank Kelly/Lauren Kelly | Ford Escort Mk2 | 14 | 3 | 7:15.5 | 0:00 | 41:05.3 | 3:33.4 | 0:00.4 |
| 21 (-1) | 47 | James Bradley/Shane O’Dowd | Ford Escort Mk2 | 13 | 1 | 6:55.3 | 0:00 | 41:05.6 | 3:33.7 | 0:00.3 |
| 22 (-3) | 19 | Brian O’Neill/John McGrath | Ford Fiesta | 5 | 12 | 7:05.3 | 0:00 | 41:12.8 | 3:40.9 | 0:07.2 |
| 23 (+2) | 29 | Richard Dalton/Martin Brady | Ford Fiesta | 5 | 13 | 6:49.5 | 0:00 | 41:20.5 | 3:48.6 | 0:07.7 |
| 24 (+4) | 31 | Gary Cairns/Mark Preston | VW Polo | 5 | 14 | 6:46.8 | 0:00 | 41:26.2 | 3:54.3 | 0:05.7 |
| 25 (-2) | 20 | Aaron McLaughlin/Darren Curran | VW Polo GTI R5 | 5 | 15 | 7:10.8 | 0:00 | 41:30.6 | 3:58.7 | 0:04.4 |
| 26 (+10) | 37 | Ben McFall/Damian McAuley | Ford Fiesta Rally 4 | 2 | 3 | 6:43.2 | 0:00 | 41:44.0 | 4:12.1 | 0:13.4 |
| 27 (+5) | 40 | Shane Murray/Gary Hade | Ford Fiesta Mark 1 | 5 | 16 | 7:04.3 | 0:00 | 41:48.2 | 4:16.3 | 0:04.2 |
| 28 (+12) | 45 | James Boland/John McCay | Ford Rally 3 | 4 | 1 | 6:42.6 | 0:00 | 41:57.1 | 4:25.2 | 0:08.9 |
| 29 (+10) | 43 | Ollie McPhillips/Billy Collins | Skoda Fabia R5 | 5 | 17 | 6:44.0 | 0:00 | 41:57.7 | 4:25.8 | 0:00.6 |
| 30 (+1) | 26 | Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan | Ford Escort | 14 | 4 | 7:16.6 | 0:00 | 41:59.0 | 4:27.1 | 0:01.3 |
| 31 (+6) | 38 | Jack Byrne/Eurig Davies | Peugeot 208 Rally 4 | 2 | 4 | 6:51.4 | 0:00 | 42:01.6 | 4:29.7 | 0:02.6 |
| 32 (+12) | 60 | Mark Straker/Michael Coady | Darrian T90 GTR | 14 | 5 | 6:59.7 | 0:00 | 42:22.0 | 4:50.1 | 0:20.4 |
| 33 (+14) | 46 | Scott Williams/Iwan Griffiths | Ford Escort Mk2 | 14 | 6 | 6:49.2 | 0:00 | 42:26.8 | 4:54.9 | 0:04.8 |
| 34 (+4) | 30 | Brian Bolger/James McEneaney | Ford Fiesta | 5 | 18 | 7:18.9 | 0:00 | 42:29.4 | 4:57.5 | 0:02.6 |
| 35 (+6) | 32 | Kevin Kelleher/Sean Hayde | Ford Escort Mk2 | 14 | 7 | 7:15.1 | 0:00 | 42:31.9 | 5:00.0 | 0:02.5 |
| 36 (-6) | 28 | Seamus Leonard/John McCaffrey | VW Polo | 5 | 19 | 8:46.7 | 0:00 | 43:27.6 | 5:55.7 | 0:55.7 |
