Every second counts as Donegan wins

Meath driver Pat Donegan and co-driver Sean Hayde scored a dramatic home victory at Sunday"s Castle Automobile Club"s mini-stages rally in a Ford Escort with only one second to spare from the Escort of Trevor Mulligan and Lisa Roe. Donegan won the event in 2003 and took the honours again with a superb drive over the challenging stages which were set by clerk of the course Joe Curran. Mulligan tied for second place with Rodney Wilton and a tie breaker on the last stage separated them. The opening stage proved very difficult for the organisers as the second crew on the road, Enfield driver Tom Holton and Francis Kenny suffered an accident. The stage was cancelled for safety purposes, but Holton and Kenny walked away from a badly damaged Toyota Celica largely unscathed. Wilton had charged into a three-second lead by the end of the next stage and extended it by a further second on stage three as Donegan moved into third place. The fourth and final stage proved to be the most crucial of the day and sealed the fate of most of the leading crews. Wilton was hindered by a gearbox problem which dropped the Cavan man to third and as Mulligan was faster on the last test he claimed the runner-up position, but the two-second gap which Donegan carved out on the last stage was sufficient for victory. RESULTS The first six home in the rally were: 1, Pat Donegan / Sean Hayde (Escort) 29m 13s; 2, Trevor Mulligan / Lisa Roe (Escort) 29m 14s; 3, Rodney Wilton / Conor McMahon (Escort) 29m 14s; 4, Russell Woods / Martin Byrne (Escort) 29m 31s; 5, Alan Sheridan / Alan Tuite (Escort) 29m 31s; 6, Michael Curran / Mark McNally (Escort) 29m 36s. Other class placings: two - 1, Enda Geraghty; 2, Declan McShane; three - 1, Barry Coleman; 2, Barry Masterson; four - 1, James McCann; 2, Patsy Carberry; six - 1, Brendan O"Rourke; 2, Ralph Kellgan; seven - 1, Colm McMonigle; 2, Anthony Masterson; eight - 1, Nigel McGinn; 2, David Forde; nine - 1, Enda O"Loughlin; 2, Noel Smith; 11 -1, Benny Kennedy; 2, Colm Brady; 12 - 1, James Cassidy; 2, David Devereux. * At Mondello Park on Sunday, Meath driver Warren Johnston was second in a Fiat Uno race and another local, Barry Rabbitt was fourth in the 15-lap saloon challenge in his Integra .