Callum Devine holds back tears to revel in ‘amazing' Donegal International Rally hat-trick success
As others wilted in the warm and humid conditions at Round Four of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, Devine – with Noel O'Sullivan once again on the notes – maintained a cool head to get his hands on the Jim Kennedy Perpetual Trophy once again.
The 31-year-old becomes the fifth person to successfully achieve the feat and joins a short but illustrious list that includes Cathal Curley (1972-1974), Billy Coleman (1984-1986), Co Armagh's Andrew Nesbitt (2000, 2002 and 2003), and the late Manus Kelly, who dominated his home international alongside Donall Barrett between 2016 and 2018.
Devine also becomes the first person to make it a hat-trick of wins over the same three-year period at the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship-counting Killarney Rally of the Lakes.
'To be honest, I was quite happy with my driving all weekend – not one moment, not one mishap all weekend apart from a small overshoot on the Saturday – and once I got myself into a good lead, I was able to fall back into a 'manage it' mode and go from there,' Devine said.
'Noel, again, was top-class, the team were top-class, the tyre choice – everything, really – was top-class and you need all of those things to work if you are to come out on top here. I think it also shows to people the Irish Tarmac Championship is pretty fast.
'It is pretty amazing – we are absolutely thrilled. The competition here this weekend has been top-class and all the guys that came here to race have pushed us really hard.
'For the first Donegal win, I put a lot of pressure on myself, but once you manage to get it over the line and you can see how it is done, it makes a difference.'
The pendulum firmly swung the way of Devine on Saturday's repeat of 'Garrygort' when Moira's William Creighton, carrying a puncture, hit a bump and understeered off the road.
Creighton started the day in fourth but quickly moved up to second and wasted no time reeling in Devine – who had to make do with no handbrake for much of the day – to sit less than five seconds behind the leading Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 before his trip into a hedge.
Devine and O'Sullivan kicked off the Sunday leg with a sizeable 21.8-second cushion over Creighton's team-mate Meirion Evans and were 40 seconds clear of David Kelly's VW Polo.
On the opening stage, Devine increased his buffer to half a minute, aided by a small spin for Evans in the second of the Castol-liveried Melvyn Evans Motorsports-run Toyota cars.
Devine continued to take a sensible approach either side of service, pushing enough to maintain his concentration levels without putting the result in jeopardy – and it paid off.
Joining Creighton on the casualties' list was Paddon, whose first Donegal foray ended on Saturday's 'Knockalla' stage when he had a soft roll on a tightening left-hander. Armstrong also failed to make it to the end as his car came to a stop on the very last test.
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Belfast Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Callum Devine holds back tears to revel in ‘amazing' Donegal International Rally hat-trick success
As others wilted in the warm and humid conditions at Round Four of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, Devine – with Noel O'Sullivan once again on the notes – maintained a cool head to get his hands on the Jim Kennedy Perpetual Trophy once again. The 31-year-old becomes the fifth person to successfully achieve the feat and joins a short but illustrious list that includes Cathal Curley (1972-1974), Billy Coleman (1984-1986), Co Armagh's Andrew Nesbitt (2000, 2002 and 2003), and the late Manus Kelly, who dominated his home international alongside Donall Barrett between 2016 and 2018. Devine also becomes the first person to make it a hat-trick of wins over the same three-year period at the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship-counting Killarney Rally of the Lakes. 'To be honest, I was quite happy with my driving all weekend – not one moment, not one mishap all weekend apart from a small overshoot on the Saturday – and once I got myself into a good lead, I was able to fall back into a 'manage it' mode and go from there,' Devine said. 'Noel, again, was top-class, the team were top-class, the tyre choice – everything, really – was top-class and you need all of those things to work if you are to come out on top here. I think it also shows to people the Irish Tarmac Championship is pretty fast. 'It is pretty amazing – we are absolutely thrilled. The competition here this weekend has been top-class and all the guys that came here to race have pushed us really hard. 'For the first Donegal win, I put a lot of pressure on myself, but once you manage to get it over the line and you can see how it is done, it makes a difference.' The pendulum firmly swung the way of Devine on Saturday's repeat of 'Garrygort' when Moira's William Creighton, carrying a puncture, hit a bump and understeered off the road. Creighton started the day in fourth but quickly moved up to second and wasted no time reeling in Devine – who had to make do with no handbrake for much of the day – to sit less than five seconds behind the leading Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 before his trip into a hedge. Devine and O'Sullivan kicked off the Sunday leg with a sizeable 21.8-second cushion over Creighton's team-mate Meirion Evans and were 40 seconds clear of David Kelly's VW Polo. On the opening stage, Devine increased his buffer to half a minute, aided by a small spin for Evans in the second of the Castol-liveried Melvyn Evans Motorsports-run Toyota cars. Devine continued to take a sensible approach either side of service, pushing enough to maintain his concentration levels without putting the result in jeopardy – and it paid off. Joining Creighton on the casualties' list was Paddon, whose first Donegal foray ended on Saturday's 'Knockalla' stage when he had a soft roll on a tightening left-hander. Armstrong also failed to make it to the end as his car came to a stop on the very last test.
BBC News
11 hours ago
- BBC News
McGuinness 'delighted' with Donegal progression
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness says he is "delighted" after securing an All-Ireland quarter-final berth. Conor O'Donnell and Ciaran Thompson netted as the Ulster champions ran out 2-22 to 0-12 winners over will be pitted against either Meath or Ulster rivals Monaghan in the draw for the last eight on Monday."We're delighted to be in the quarter-final draw, that was the overwhelming ambition coming into the game," McGuinness told BBC Sport NI."We're very happy to be there."The quarter-final will be a ninth Championship match in the space of 13 weeks for Donegal, a schedule McGuinness admits is "gruelling".However, the Tir Chonaill boss is looking at the positives and says "we don't want to go down that road"."We had three big games ahead of us. Thankfully we've navigated two and we've one more ahead of us. "We're delighted to have that opportunity to play in that game, regardless of who we get in what will be a very tough draw."We'll take the positives and take the learnings from today, and hopefully we can build on that for next week."It's going to be very difficult to navigate the next round but that's were we want to be."
BBC News
12 hours ago
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Devine wins third Donegal International Rally in a row
Callum Devine came through a demanding Donegal International Rally to win the event for a third year in a row. The 2023 Irish Tarmac Rally champion won the three-day event - one of the most famous rallies in Europe - alongside co-driver Noel O'Sullivan by 20.5 seconds ahead of Wales' Meirion Evans, while local driver David Kelly was third. Skoda driver Devine, 31, led after Friday's six stages but a gruelling Saturday saw a number of big names drop out of contention. European Rally Championship driver Jon Armstrong posted a number of fastest stage times and was challenging Devine on Saturday's first loop but a differential problem on his Ford Fiesta dropped him out of contention, and a second mechanical issue halted his recovery later in the day. Two time ERC champion Hayden Paddon, a late entry for the rally from New Zealand, was in the mix for victory but rolled out on Saturday's penultimate stage. The final stage on Saturday claimed British Rally Championship title challenger William Creighton, who slid off the road with a slow puncture and decided to retire his Toyota Yaris. The various issues for front runners took away from what could have been a titanic battle for the win in the Donegal hills as just 20 seconds separated Devine, Creighton, Evans and Paddon after 12 as his rivals faltered, Devine, who himself battled handbrake issues, kept his cool to win the rally for the third consecutive and co-driver Ger Conway were a comfortable second and, despite his issues, Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne had moved back into podium contention but the Fermanagh driver retired after an off on the final promoted Kelly and navigator Arthur Kierans onto the final step of the podium for the second year in a row.
