By 
MARK Donnelly picked up his first overall victory in a little over two years on Saturday when he beat Omagh’s Gareth Mimnagh to the Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown title.
The Greencastle native, who won the event in 2023, took the lead from Derek Mackarel on stage three after the Clones man clipped a rock on Crocknagrally, forcing him to retire, and despite Mimnagh’s best efforts, never looked back as he and co-driver Cathair Hughes prevailed by a little over 17 seconds in the end.
The Volkswagen Polo crew had to overcome a nagging mechanical issue after a spin on the opening stage as they battled hard to keep Mimnagh and co-driver J Barry McCarney in their Ford Fiesta at bay.
Monaghan’s Josh Moffett, assisted by Andy Hayes, came home third in his Hyundai i20, with David Condell and John McElhinney fourth in a Skoda Fabia, while Clady’s father and son crew of Jordan and Paul Hone finished fifth, despite picking up a puncture on Jenkin, to also take victory in the final round of the Brown & Brown Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge, taking the overall title in the process from Drumquin’s Stephen Dickson, who was eighth overall, one place behind Sion Mills’ Darragh Cairns and co-driver Mark Preston in another Polo.
The top 10 was rounded out by Castlederg duo, Gareth Sayers and Gareth Gilchrist, while Donemana’s Paul Britton and Peter Ward were 10th in their Fiesta.
The two-wheel-drive battle also brought local success with Fivemiletown’s Shane McGirr and Ballygawley co-driver, Denver Raffferty taking the overall win in their Lada Riva by a little over 30 seconds from Dromore’s Hugh McQuaid and co-driver Enda Gerety, who were class six winners, in a Mk II Ford Escort, while Tommy Moffett and Ryan Farrell, who won class five, were third in a Rally4 Ford Fiesta.
In the remaining classes, Darragh Kelly won class two from Drumquin’s Dean Humphrey in an eye-catching Mitsubishi Evo IX, while Omagh’s Paul Maguire was third in a Subaru Impreza. Dromore’s Ryan McCanney was the victor in class eight, winning alongside Conor McGurran in their Vauxhall Corsa from Janice Millar, with Donemana’s Mark Moore third in a Honda Civic. And Lifford’s Damien Tourish, assisted by Kevin Duggan, won the historic section in a Mk II RS 1800 Ford Escort.
Meanwhile, while there was no shortage of local success on the day, there was also heartbreak, no more so than Claudy’s reigning champion, Niall McGonigle, a man synonymous with the event, who saw his Samsonas Rally Fivemiletown title defence ended on stage one when a gear linkage issue put paid to his challenge.
