McGonigle: Fivemiletown win is my version of Donegal

February 27, 2024 Rallyinsight

I have met few people with greater enthusiasm for a rally than Niall McGonigle’s passion for Northern Ireland’s Fivemiletown Rally.

The Tyrone man was instrumental in bringing the gravel rally back to its best when it staged its first event in three years back in 2019.

Back then McGonigle was keen just to keep the famous Fivemiletown on Ireland’s rallying map. Five years on McGonigle is a Fivemiletown Rally winner, his first-ever event win. Talk about a “pinch yourself” moment.

“It is hard for me to explain how good it is to win Fivemiletown,” McGonigle reflected. “I am still not believing it the way I should be believing it.

“I am still waiting for the sting in the tail. But no, it is there, it has happened, and we have won it.”

Manning a Ford Fiesta R5, McGonigle and co-driver Caolan McKenna, stormed into an early Fivemiletown Rally lead.

The duo impressed on the Killarney Forestry Rally a week earlier, sealing a third-place finish on only McGonigle’s third gravel event in an R5.

A mere 2.1 seconds separated the top three crews on Fivemiletown’s 10.3-kilometre Jenkin Long opener but a hat-trick of fastest times for McGonigle earned him a 6.2-second lead after stage three.

Vivian Hamill bounced back on the succeeding tests as a cleaner line developed for his road-opening Volkswagen Polo R5.

Last year’s runner-up edged ahead of McGonigle by two-tenths of a second after a storming drive through Fivemiletown’s penultimate test.

McGonigle’s lead was gone, his dream looked to have hit the realities of front-line rallying.

“When Vivian took the lead on stage seven, we had nothing else left,” admitted McGonigle. “We were at our limit through Jenkin and Vivian still took two seconds out of us.

“He was driving hard and driving well. We just had to give it our all on the last stage.

“The last stage was something pretty special. It was mental how much speed we carried through the corners.

“We came to the end and said if Vivian has beat us, he deserves to win.

“But we had done enough, it was unbelievable to win it on the last stage.

“I know we were leading for most of the day but Vivian came on well and when we got onto the clean stages the Polo was hard to stop.

“Then to have your heroes like Rory Kennedy, Robbie McGurk, and Kenny McKinstry texting you to say well done – it really means a lot.

“For me to win that rally is like a Tarmac man winning Donegal. I am over the moon, absolutely over the moon.”

McGonigle’s unforgettable Fivemiletown victory was his IN Sport rally team’s second since its inception 12 months ago. It is also a second victory for M-Sport’s original Ford Fiesta R5 in two weeks on Irish gravel events after Jordan Hone won in Killarney last week.

For McGonigle, he is grateful for the team around him who made his magic Saturday possible.

“I have to give a special mention to Caolan who was first class on Saturday and the effort he puts into his navigating is second to none.

“He put in a big effort coming into the event and he was inch-perfect during the rally.

“IN Sport is still quite new but to repay the boys’ efforts is first class. They work hard in the workshop and are perfectionists as well. It really shows now.

“Our first win was Jason Mitchell on the Davagh Sunset Rally and we have had a few podiums since then.

“For me to get a win in our hire car proves that the Ford Fiesta R5 is still a winning package on gravel.”

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