McGonigle takes back Fivemiletown

Thursday 5 March 2026 16:30

FOR the second time IN-Sport’s Niall McGonigle has won the Samsonas Fivemiletown Rally - putting to bed a retirement last year - to now lead the Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge, writes William Neill.

Running Pirelli tyres the Strabane man, with co-driver Caolan McKenna, moved into the lead on stage two, Crocknagrally, when Mark Donnelly slid off the road on the third corner while holding a four-second advantage.

Derek Mackerel became the challenger, setting the same time as McGonigle’s Volkswagen Polo R5 on stage two before mechanical issues sidelined the Clones’ driver.

Eventual runners-up Vivian Hamill and Paddy Robinson moved up to second following stage three, Mullaghfad, to trail McGonigle by 5.8 seconds, a gap that would increase to 19.3 seconds by the finish but second secured by 20.6 seconds.

David Condell was joint fastest with McGonigle on stage three and with times consistently in the top four, he placed the Skoda Fabia in the final podium place.

Despite a ten-second road penalty for a late stage arrival, Conor Wilson was fourth in a Hyundai i20 R5 in what is set to be another busy year for the Carndonagh man who will travel to Barbados to compete later this year.

Rallying internationally across USA and Europe as part of the DirtFish Women in Motorsport program, Galway’s Aoife Raftery finished a well-placed fifth and scored an impressive Rally3 class win with Denmark visitor Ditte Kammersgaard.

Two–wheel-drive

With sixth overall Shane McGirr and Denver Rafferty won two-wheel-drive by an impressive 43.7 seconds with their Lada Riva, following diff issues for early leader Paddy McToal.

A broken shock absorber forced Adrian Hetherington out at service for Hugh McDaid to be the competition for McGirr. James Kennedy was third and Shane Cullen fourth in Ford Escorts.

Class 2 was won by Drumquin’s Dean Humphrey and Dillon McKenna with a Mitsubishi Lancer E9, Historic victors David Dennision and Gareth Lewthwaite were 18th overall and World Rally Championship co-driver Aaron Johnston proved his ability in the driver seat with a category win.

Class 9 and Noel and Neill Vallelly were the sole finishers in a Toyota Corolla while McDaid’s second in two-wheel-drive was enough to claim Class 6.

Rally action continues this Saturday, March 7, at Bishopscourt Race Circuit in County Down for the spectator-friendly opening round of the also Brown & Brown sponsored Northern Ireland Rally Championship.

To keep up-to-date with both the rally and championships follow the Brown & Brown Motorsport UK Northern Ireland Rally Championship on Facebook.

Results (full results via www.rallyscore.net)

1: Niall McGonigle/Caolan McKenna (Volkswagen Polo)

2: Vivian Hamill/Paddy Robinson (Skoda Fabia)

3: David Condell/Michael Coady (Skoda Fabia)

4: Conor Wilson/Kyle McDaid (Hyundai i20)

5: Aoife Raftery/Ditte Kammersgaard (Ford Fiesta)

6: Shane McGirr/Denver Rafferty (Lada Riva)

7: Martin Cairns/Gareth Doherty (Volkswagen Polo)

8: Dean Humphrey/Dillon McKenna (Mitsubishi Lancer)

9: Paul Maguire/David Kerr (Subaru Impreza)

10: Owen Mallon/Keith Hall (Skoda Fabia)