BALLYLICKEY’S Daniel Cronin and his Dunmanway co-driver Donnchadh Burke make the long journey to Letterkenny this weekend for the Donegal Harvest Rally, the eighth and final round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.
They are one of four crews that can win the series but Cronin, onboard the Cronin’s Centra and Cronin’s Homevalue liveried VW Polo GTi R5, is pragmatic about landing the Vard Memorial Trophy.
‘Look, it’s a long shot but in rallying anything can happen,’ Cronin said.
‘If anyone told me at the start of the season that we would be involved in the title decider I would have taken that scenario. I did the event (Donegal Harvest) in 2021 in a Ford Fiesta R5 and finished eighth overall but it was based in Donegal town on that occasion.’
Cronin’s title rivals are Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5) who is the reigning champion, his brother Sam (Hyundai i20 Rally2) who is a former champion and Kilkenny’s Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia R5).
Although the series features eight rounds, competitors can only count the scores from their best six events. Currently, both Cronin and Doherty have amassed 102 points from six events while Josh Moffett has 98 points and Sam has 95 points, both from five events.
Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin (left) and Dunmanway’s Donnchadh Burke.
Realistically, both Cronin and Doherty need the Moffett duo to finish lower than seventh-place championship finishers to have a realistic opportunity of taking championship victory.
But anything is possible. All of thirty years ago, three drivers contested a title decider on the Marine Hotel Fastnet Rally in Glandore. Wexford’s Eamonn Boland (Ford Escort Cosworth), Belfast’s John Gilleece (Escort Cosworth) and the late Ardee driver Mickey Farrell (Subaru Legacy) were vying for the title. On the second stage Boland retired in bizarre circumstances when a section of an exhaust pipe, which had fallen off one of the 00 cars, pierced the radiator of his Escort Cosworth. Farrell’s Subaru lost power steering and also had clutch troubles. Denis Cronin (Daniel’s uncle) went on to win the rally, 28 seconds ahead of Gilleece with Liam McCarthy (Sierra Cosworth) third. Farrell, who eventually finished fifth, took enough points to win the series.
Cronin’s results throughout the season has given him encouragement and confidence in his ability. He points to last year’s Fastnet Rally as a turning point.
‘I was able to mix with Josh (Moffett) and Callum (Devine) and while it was my local event, the stages were not that close to Ballylickey – the Goleen stage is a nice bit away from me – so it’s really down to having good pacenotes. I think my pace took off from there. It gave me a boost,’ he said.
Reflecting on the highs and lows of the current season he added, ‘Mayo (second place) ended well for me after I didn’t have a good opening stage. The second round in Monaghan was a disaster and it was completely my fault. I misheard a pacenote and crashed, Donnchadh was spot on with the notes.
‘Winning in Carlow was the nicest and so was the Stonethrowers (third place) bar being caught out on the conditions with wrong tyres. Then, I got a dose of reality on the Galway Summer Rally with fifth place; I drove poorly that day, probably overthinking it too much.
Cronin concluded: ‘The Donegal Harvest is the last rally of the year, hopefully we will get a good recce and take it from there. Realistically, the Moffetts are favourites and will be quick in Donegal. If we can get third in the championship it would be great, anything else will be a bonus.’
