Cronin masters Galway!

Keith Cronin came back to Ireland with a bang, showing his level of talent by rocketing past the opposition in his Subaru Impreza S11.

Wet lanes coated with mud greeted the crews on Sunday morning and the Galway Rally got underway. Fastest out of the blocks was returning Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly, who was back driving the Colm Quinn-sponsored MINI John Cooper Works WRC. However this time it was in right hand drive form, with some subtle upgrades over last year's version. He was 12 secs faster than anyone else over SS1.

Other drivers weren't so fortunate, with Derek McGarrity bringing his Subaru Impreza S14 back only to suffer from intercom problems and Garry Jennings was suffering from gearbox problems. However Darren Gass came off the worst, the reigning Champion sliding off into a ditch and retiring on the very first stage.

Heading into the first service of the rally, Donnelly still lead but with a reduced lead after Derek McGarrity cut the gap to under 11 secs. Keith Cronin continued to get used to his car, holding onto third place.

At the end of the second loop, Donnelly continued to lead but by a minute 0.1 secs over an on form Cronin, who had begun to up the pace in his ex-Thomas Fitzmaurice S11. He won SS5 by 12 secs. Declan Boyle was getting a feel for ITRC pace, beginning to close on McGarrity for third place.

The beginning of the final loop was swept by drizzle and light rain, but it didn't faze triple British Champion Cronin. He laid waste to all around him, despite being on a set of old Pirelli's he went into a 12.5 sec lead overall. Donnelly maintained second place, with the conditions deteriorating he couldn't afford a mistake with McGarrity and Boyle waiting for one of the Top 2 to slip up.

The final stage saw Cronin extend his lead up to 13.8 secs over Donnelly, who joked he might buy a dress soon as he always appears to be the bridesmaid in Galway. It was a sterling drive for the young man who was only adapting to the car throughout the whole rally. Declan Boyle finally overhauled Derek McGarrity with a big push through the final stage for third place.

McGarrity took fourth place in the Kerrs Tyres-sponsored car, with Donegal man Donagh Kelly in fifth place. Garry Jennings took sixth place, curing his gearbox problems only to suffer from handling problems in his new Impreza S12, the car getting all out of shape coming into junctions and tight corners.

Highest Galway crew were John Joe Fleming and Robbie Ward in their striking Ford Focus WRC. They took a solid seventh place amidst the horrible conditions, with John Joe saying it's the nicest car he's ever driven, but is struggling to get used to left hand drive. He was promoted one place after Thomas Fitzmaurice retired his Subaru Impreza S12C with reported gearbox problems.

Alan Ring won the Group N award in his regular Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, finishing ahead of the Moffett brother's Josh and Sam in similar cars. Ring winning by 21 secs over Josh, with Sam finishing 7 tenths behind his brother in third place. Sam Moffett was putting Ring under pressure going into the final test but his Evo started to misfire and that was the end of his challenge.

Paddy Kiernan and James McCarville took a last gasp National Rally win in their beautiful Ford Escort Mk2. Leaving the final service the pair trailed then National leader Tom Flaherty by 3 secs, but put in a solid drive to take the lead by 9.2 secs after SS6, only for Flaherty to fight back and cut the deficit to 2.9 secs going into the final stage.

The final stage was Kiernan's finest performance of the rally, he and co-driver McCarville finishing the stage in the hope they had done enough, McCarville even saying “Young Kiernan I hope we done it boy!”. They had in fact done it, and the National crown was theirs. Fergus O'Mara rose to second place, demoting Flaherty to third place at the end of the final, treacherous, test.

Wesley Patterson lead the Historic section in his immaculately prepared Ford Escort Mk2 (built to FIA Historic specification), until his engine failed close to the end. This let James O'Mahony into the lead and he held it to the end, leading home Ray Cunningham in one of his famous Mini Cooper's. John Spiers took third in his Porsche 911.

Richard Moore took a dominating victory in the Junior class in his Honda Civic, finishing over 3 mins ahead of second placed Kenneth Quirke. Justin Ryan took third place as the final finisher on what proved to be a rally of attrition for the entire field.