13/10/2026
Round Six- rally report
The Donegal MotorClub An Griannan Hotel Harvest Stages Rally delivered high-stakes action across nine demanding tarmac stages in Burt. Serving as the deciding round of the 2026 Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship.
one of the pre-event favourites, David Kelly and co-driver Shane Buckley powered their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 to overall victory, leading from start to finish and claiming three stage wins to cross the line 20 seconds clear of the field. However it wasnt all plain sailing for the local crew, as hot on their heels and only a scant 1.7 seconds off Kelly’s lead heading into Stage 7, Kevin Eves and Chris Melly in a similar Skoda unfortunately they crashed out to leave Michael Boyle and Dermot McCafferty to take runner up in their Skoda, with Shane Quinn and Stephen Reynolds in their rally2 Ford Fiesta.
In the race for modified Class Honors: Daniel McKenna and co-driver Andrew Grennan stole the spotlight in that category, bringing their Ford Es**rt Mk2 home to win the class and finish an impressive 7th overall,.Gary McPhillips and Calum Maguire took their similar Es**rt to second, and our 'Drive of the Day' winners Jonathan Pringle and Pierce O'Callaghan took 3rd.
In rally4 Ben McFall and Mark McGeehan took the lead after ss2 in their Ford Fiesta and holding off the challenges from the chasing pack of Peugeot 208's until the end, unfortunately Oran England and Darragh Mullen suffered an off-road excursion to put their overall Border campaign in jeopardy. 2nd in class 2 went to Danny Brady and Damien Sheridan with Jack Byrne and Michael Ward 3rf
In the other modified category our Championship leaders heading into the rally were Ben McIntyre and Anthony McDonald and they have had a clear run all season, however from the outset the rally wasn't easy a puncture and a mechanical misfire led them to having to rally2 and the 2 points for achieved was sufficient to claim the first title overall for Ben, Mark McGeehan took the navigators title, which left Ben's co-driver Anthony having to settle for runner up overall.
Tommy O'Connell and Paul Hughes took their immaculate Bmw M3 to a historic win in its maiden outing, which was an amazing achievement, they were followed by the similar Bmw of Michael Cullen and Lorcan Moore, whilst the trusty Talbot Sunbeam of Brian Crawford and Finnian Hannigan.
In the Junior category, Harry Dorrian and Davin Watson took the win in the battle of the Civics, 2nd went to Patrick Doherty and Patrick Durning, and third was Aaron and Kaolan Reid
Whilst in the Dacia's Ulick and Garret Burke took victory over the similar car of local crew Liam Doherty and Peter Kelly with third going to Anthony O'Halloran and Cian Lynch to round off yet another successful season of this budget series.
You all at this point will have received your provisional championship standings points. Now is the time to rectify miscalculations and to ensure everyone is granted the award you all have worked so hard for. Please note 7pm tomorrow, Wednesday 14th October, is the cut-off for any queries!
Congratulations to all our registered crews who scored class placings and the necessary results to secure your Championship placings also
A huge applause must go to John Crumlish and all his team at Donegal Motor Club for running a fine event and keeping it as compact as possible.
Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who helped in any way to get the event to run.
We would once again ask for you all to secure your accommodation for our prizegiving in the Sligo Park Hotel on Saturday 31st of October and we will be in contact, we will be in contact in due course to sort ticket allocation and to accept any additional orders.
The countdown is on ! As always, it's a night not to be missed
We will highlight all our winners over the coming weeks !
ALMC Motor Club Birr & District Motor Club Cavan Motorclub CBM Signs Clare Motorclub Cookstown Motor Club Ltd Connacht Motorclub Donegal MotorClub Flyin Finn Motorsport Galway Motor Club James Burke Photography Mayo Motorsport Club Midland Motorclub Monaghan Motor Club Motorsport Ireland Sligo Pallets Ltd Sligo Park Hotel
