Ravens Rock Rally - 6 Jul 25

MIJRS battles loom after summer break

Posted: July 6, 2025 2:03 AM

What a year it has been so far as the 2025 Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series roars back into life for the second half of a season that will see some of Irelands finest young rally talent compete for life changing prizes and huge opportunities to progress their future in the sport, and renew battles that have raged across tar and gravel so far this year. Round 5 of the calendar sees the Class 2 & 2A crews head to this weekend’s Ravens Rock Rally.

Contested across select rounds of both the Irish National Rally Championship and the Irish Forest Rally Championship, the dual-surface MIJRS is a series designed to progress the skills of our brightest rally talents, and the prize packages on offer match the commitment of the series and its supporters.

Once more this year, the winners in both Class 2 and Class 2A of the MIJRS will receive a coveted Billy Coleman award shortlist nomination, while with the support of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy there are prize packages on offer right across the lead competitors to a value of €50,000. As the MIJRS competitors get set to tackle the second half of an exciting series, let’s take a look at how the class battles are looking.

Class 2
Will anyone stop the rise of Cian Caldwell in 2025? Four events down and three wins under his belt, it’s fair to say this season has seen an incredible return to form from our 2023 MIJRS champion as he has found a real turn of pace in his Peugeot 208 Rally4 that the rest of the field are struggling to match, and he has taken victories on Tarmac on the Midland Stages, as well as both Gravel rounds in Tipperary & Mayo.
Behind Caldwell in second, and ruing still a frustrating retirement on the Tipperary Forest Rally, is Jack Harris who has made the jump to Class 2 in a Ford Fiesta Rally4 having dominated Class 2A in 2024. In third place is the real surprise package of this year in the form of former Circuit Racer, and Sexton Trophy winner, Jack Byrne who has steadily built his pace in a debut Rally season behind the wheel of a Peugeot 208.
Fellow circuit star and Karting star Oran England is only a pair of points off Byrne in a year to date that has shown some really impressive turns of pace and some stage victories along the way, while only for a frustrating mistake on the Tipperary Forest Rally we’d likely see Ben McFall, the 2024 Northern Irish Junior Champion, further up the standing as he came close to claiming victory on the Circuit of Kerry, finishing just shy of Jack Harris after a remarkable finish.
For many of the rest of the Class 2 field, it has been a frustrating first half of the season. Both Tommy Moffett & Robert Cronin have shown impressive pace, but both have suffered a pair of retirements each, while we have seen very little of Jack Brennan, Dean Murphy & Dan Nash this season to really know where they may end up come the end of the year.

Class 2A
Just as in its debut year, Class 2A has been, and is likely to remain, a really tight battle right to the end. It was Ross Ryan who left the Mayo Forest Rally the happiest of the Class 2A crews as he bagged a second successive maximum score on gravel, and with it now sits just a single point off the lead of the standings going into the summer break, a lead held by the class runner up last time out Jack Kennedy.

Ryan, making the step up from J1000 this season, has a real battle in store with the more experienced Kennedy as they both compete in Ford Fiesta R2T’s, with the mix season sure to have a role yet as Kennedy has won twice on Tar while Ryan has won twice on Gravel.

Taking third place is Tommy Furlong, a fellow J1000 graduate this year, who is really impressing having stepped up to a Ford Fiesta R2 and has performed well on his more familiar surface – gravel, while the sole non-Ford entrant in the class, Darragh Kelly in a Peugeot 208 R2, also remains truly in the mix just a point off Furlong with Drop Scores set to play a role in the race to the finish.

J1000
While our youngest competitors will not compete on this weekend’s Ravens Rock Rally, their MIJRS campaign heads to the tarmac of Waterford Airport Business Park for the Carrick-on-Suir Rally Sprint on July 19th for the latest in a season that includes six full Gravel rally events and a smattering of Sprints for competitors as young as 14 years of age.

The last two rounds of the J1000 series, in Tipperary and Mayo, have really thrown the results on their head as early leader David Travers, winner of both the Carlow and Moonraker Forest Rallies, slipped off the road on Round 4 and then battled mechanical gremlins on Round 5, slipping back to third as a result.

Taking advantage of the situation presented the most was James McShea, his debut season in J1000 has now seen victories on the Carlow Mondello Sprint in December being added to with wins in Mitchelstown and Ballina, taking him into second in the standings.

The standout star in J1000 this year though has been Kyle Drury, and his incredibly consistent pace all year has seen him build an impressive eight-point lead, but deep down he would love to finally take the top step of the podium having finished either second or third on all five rounds that he has competed on this season.

Seeded Entry List

Posted: July 1, 2025 6:59 AM

1 Josh Moffett/Keith Moriarty (Hyundai i20 R5) [5]
2 Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy (Skoda Fabia R5) [5]
3 Desi Henry/Dean O'Sullivan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [5]
4 Sam Moffett/Shane Buckley (Hyundai i20 N Rally 2) [5]
5 Declan Boyle/Patrick Walsh (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) [5]
6 Michael Boyle/Dermot McCafferty (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) [5]
7 Jason Dickson/Martin Brady (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [5]
8 Daniel Cronin/Padraig O'Donovan (Citroen C3 Rally2) [5]
9 David Guest/Stephen Quin (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [5]
10 Paul Barrett/Darragh Kelly (Citroen C3 Rally2) [5]
11 Daniel Barry/Lorcan Moore (VW Polo GTI R5) [1]
12 Cal McCarthy/James McBrearty (Citroen C3 Rally2) [5]
13
14 Matthew Boyle/Gary Byrne (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [5]
15 Jason McSweeney/Liam Brennan (Skoda Fabia R5) [5]
16
17 James Stafford/Richard Cleary (Darrian T90 GTR) [14]
18 Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
19 Barry Morris/Dylan Doonan (Darrian T90 GTR) [14]
20 Chris Armstrong/Darren Curran (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
21 Vincent O'Shea/Eoin O'Donoghue (Darrian T90 GTR) [14]
22 Richard Moore/Enda Kennedy (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [5]
23 Tim McNulty/Diarmuid Falvey (VW Polo GTI R5) [5]
24 Niall Henry/Peter Ward (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [5]
25 Paschal O'Shea/Larry O'Shea (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
26 Denis Hickey/Eoin O'Leary (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
27 Tim Flood/Anthony Smith (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
28 Mark Dolphin/Tadhg Delaney (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
29 Kevin Dolphin/David Mannion (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
30 Barry McLaughlin/Barry McBride (Ford Escort Mk1) [13]
31 Alan Doherty/Colm Doherty (Toyota Starlet) [13]
32 James Bradley/Shane O'Dowd (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
33 Niall Fitzpatrick/Matthew Reade (Ford Escort Mk1) [13]
34 John Boland/Paul O'Leary (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
35 Robbie Allen/Emer Kearns (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
36 James McCarville/Arthur Kierans (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
39 Cian Caldwell/Paul McPhillips (Peugeot 208 Rally4) [2]
40 Jack Brennan/Eoghan Doherty (Peugeot 208 Rally4) [2]
41 Tommy Moffett/Domhnall Lennon (Ford Fiesta Rally4) [2]
42
43 Oran England/Darragh Mullen (Ford Fiesta Rally4) [2]
44 Eibhinn Russell/David Doyle (Ford Escort Mk2) [12]
45 Ollie McPhillips/Billy Collins (Skoda Fabia R5) [5]
46 David Porter/Sean Marsh (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
47 Huw Jeffreys/Avarina Jeffreys (Skoda Fabia R5) [5]
48 Tomas O'Rourke/Tomas Scallan (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10) [20]
49 Brian Bolger/James McEneaney (Ford Fiesta Rally2) [5]
50 Eugene Meegan/Liam Callaghan (BMW 1M CSL) [14]
51 Stefan Davies/Moloughney Conor (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
52 Brian Hickey/Noel Murphy (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
53 Jason Ryan/Peter Keohane (Toyota Starlet) [11F]
54 Eamonn McCarthy/Lisa McCarthy (Honda Civic) [11F]
55 Adam Grace/Ken Blanche (Honda Civic) [11F]
56 Des Lyons/Ashling McArdle (Honda Civic) [11F]
57 David Healy/Martin Byrne (Honda Civic) [11F]
58 Martin McPhillips/Peter Farrell (Toyota Corolla) [11R]
59 John Michael Kennelly/Mark O'Leary (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
60 Alan Commins/Joseph O'Brien (Peugeot 205 RWD) [12]
61 Gerard Tuite/Brian Sharkey (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
62 Paul Robins/Jordan Wilkinson (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
63 Paidi Hamill/Mark McGeehan (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
64 Colin Flanagan/Kevin Reilly (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10) [20]
65 Pat Kelly/Jonathan Kelly (Ford Fiesta) [20]
66 David Doherty/Ashley Trimble (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) [20]
67 John Hayes/Andy Hayes (Ford Fiesta Rally3) [4]
68 Michael Ormond/Paddy King (Ford Fiesta Rally3) [4]
69 Connor O'Brien/Niall Burns (Ford Fiesta) [20]
70 John Corrigan/Niall Mulcahy (Subaru Impreza) [20]
71 Larry Doyle/ TBA (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7) []
72 Stephen Murphy/ TBA (Ford Escort Mk2) [14]
73 Dermot Harrington/Terry Walkingshaw (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
74 Jason Roche/Jason Porter (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
75 Gavin McGivney/Daniel McConnan (Ford Escort Mk2) [13]
76 Paul Doyle/Ciarán Dermody (BMW Compact) [12]
77 Jack Byrne/Andrew Farmer (Peugeot 208 Rally4) [2]
78 Robert Cronin/Paddy Heffernan (Opel Corsa Rally4) [2]
79 John O'Rourke/Derek Lynch (Opel Corsa Rally4) [2]
80 Dean Murphy/David Murphy (Peugeot 208 Rally4) [2]
81 Ben McFall/Damian McAuley (Ford Fiesta Rally4) [2]
82 Aidan Kilkenny/Francis Rafferty (Ford Fiesta Rally4) [2]
83 Andrew Slattery/Shaun Forde (Peugeot 208 Rally4) [2]
84 Dan Nash/Josh Radford (Ford Fiesta Rally4) [2]
85 Conor Ryan/Gary Lombard (Ford Fiesta Rally4) [2]
86 Jamie Boyle/Conor Carr (Honda Civic) [11F]
87 Marc Mayes/Jordan Jones (Vauxhall Corsa Kit Car) [11F]
88 Alan O'Dwyer/Declan Norris (Honda Civic) [11F]
89 Gary Fitzpatrick/Darragh Smyth (Ford Escort Mk2) [11R]
90 Kieran Rafter/Jason Buckley (Toyota Starlet) [11F]
91 David Coady/Eoin Kinsella (Ford Escort Mk2) [11R]
92 Seamus O'Grady/Keith Power (Ford Fiesta ST) [13]
93 Jack Kennedy/Dylan Harrington (Ford Fiesta R2) [2A]
94 Ross Ryan/James Deane (Ford Fiesta R2T) [2A]
95 Tommy Furlong/Leo Tector (Ford Fiesta R2) [2A]
96 Darragh Kelly/Ashley Boulton (Peugeot 208 R2) [2A]
97 Cameron Crozier/Chrisy Corry (Ford Fiesta R2) [2A]
101 Paul Cloke/Liam Howlett (Ford Fiesta) [20]
102 Richie Curran/Gerry English (Ford Fiesta) [20]
103 Eddie Lyons/Saoirse Hartley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) [20]
104 Mikie Morahan/Anne Morahan (Subaru Impreza) [15]
105 Seamus Anderson/Richard Schneider (Seat Leon) [3]
106 Kieran Guinan/Ronan Mooney (Ford Escort Mk2) [12]
107 Paul Cullen/Brian Rowan (Opel Corsa) [10]
108 Shane Hagan/Jack Kelly (Ford Escort Mk2) [10]
109 Sam Leech/ TBA (Honda Civic) [5]
110 Kevin Brennan/Liam Mackey (Toyota Corolla) []
111 Stephen Brennan/Pat Knox (Honda Civic) [3]
112 Gavin Walsh/Natasha Murphy (Renault Clio) [3]
113 Ray Kirwan/David Busher (Honda Civic) [3]
114 Dermot Roche/Tyra Roche (Vauxhall Nova) [9]
115 Mikey Ryan/Liam Egan (Peugeot 205 RWD) [13]
116 Rory Howley/Kevin Howley (Austin Mini) [9]
117 Danny Brady/Darren O'Brien (Ford Fiesta R2T) [2A]
118 John Forde/Patrick O'Sullivan (Citroen C2 R2) [10]
119 Eamon Russell/Martin McBrearty (Honda Civic) [3]
120 Niall Dempsey/Kieran Carroll (Peugeot 206 Cup Car) [2A]
121 Tom Geraghty/ TBA (Ford Escort) [1]
123 David Herbert/Daniel Seaman (Peugeot 208 Rally4) [5]
124 Christy McLaughlin/Garth Neill (Honda Civic) [11F]
125 Gerard O'Connell/John Murray (Ford Escort Mk2) [12]
126 Des Forrestal/Davy Creane (Toyota Ae86) [11R]
127 Seamus Kelly/Pauric McGinley (Ford Escort Mk2) [11R]
133 Kevin Corcoran/Darragh Tynan (Ford Escort) [9]
134 John Barry/Eddie Byrne (Austin Mini Cooper) [9]
135 Barry O'Brien/Declan Buttimer (Honda Civic) [11F]
136 Tom Jnr Holton/Stephen Joyce (Ford Fiesta R5) [5]
137 Steven Mackey/Richard O'Shea (Ford Escort Mk2) [10]

Historics
37 Neil Williams/Eurig Davies (Ford Escort RS1800 Mk2) [18]
38 Adrian Evans/Sion Jones (BMW M3) [19]
98 Don Butler/Tony Ferris (Ford Sierra RS Cosworth) [18]
99 Phill Rogers/Martin Henry (Ford Escort RS1800 Mk2) [18]
100 Max Jones/Emma Clarke (Ford Escort Mk2) [18]

Juniors
128 Aaron Doyle/Tommy Brennan (TBA) [16]
129 Ronan Dorrian/Mickey Joe Browne (Honda Civic) [16]
130 Jack Hallahan/David Rea (Honda Civic) [16]
131 Gerard Daly/Tomas Kehoe (Peugeot 106 Cup Car) [16]
132 Louise Bourke/Edwin Walsh (Peugeot 206 Cup Car) [16]

Dacias
D1 Cillian Doherty/Tommy Cuddihy (Dacia Sandero) [23]
D2 Caolan Doyle/Rory Doyle (Dacia Sandero) [23]
D3 Oscar Mangan/Elva Roe (Dacia Sandero) [23]
D4 Anthony O'Halloran/Declan O'Regan (Dacia Sandero) [23]
D5 Denis Ferry/Matthew Ferry (Dacia Sandero) [23]
D6 Liam Doherty/Leah Doherty (Dacia Sandero) [23]
D7 Diarmuid O'Toole/Barry Murphy (Dacia Sandero) [23]
D8 Sean Lyons/Jack Devine (Dacia Sandero) [23]
D9 William Nolan/Colm Kearney (Dacia Sandero) [23]

Sportity

Posted: July 1, 2025 6:57 AM