Published: Wednesday, 3rd September, 2008 12:00pm

Rally News

'We had such a championship, we covered more than twice the length of Ireland in stage miles and I was only beating Niall by 7s after that.

'He"s disappointed too, but there was only ever going to be one winner!' Patrick said one of the trickiest parts of the rally was keeping his concentration after Niall retired.

'All the time when you"re racing somebody, you"re thinking "how can I go faster?".

Then when he went out I was worrying about making a mistake. You"re trying to protect a lead and thinking more about the risk side of things - when it"s just a straight race it makes a it a lot easier.'

Welsh driver, Mel Evans and Sean Mullally finished second in Galway; and Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy took third. Maurice Moffett/Jason McKenna (Toyota Starlet) won the two-wheel drive category.

Crash

Trevor Mulligan crashed his Escort on the opening test, Thomas Carolan/Declan Smith were second in class nine in their MkII when they retired with one stage left.

1. P. Elliott/D. Connolly (Subaru WRC) 1h. 00m. 38s.

2. M. Evans/S. Mullally (Subaru WRC) 1h. 01m. 17s.

3. A. Ring/A. Deasy (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1h. 05m. 02s.

4. M. Moffett/J. McKenna (Toyota Starlet) 1h. 05m. 12s.

5. M. McGee/D. Crawford (Ford Escort) 1h. 05m. 23s.

6. D. MacBride/R. MacBride (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1h. 05m. 30s.

7. D. Rafferty/D. Raftery (Subaru WRC) 1h. 05m. 30s.

8. S. Flanagan/B. Duggan (Subaru) 1h. 05m. 47s.

9. T. Bustard/K. Bustard (Mitsubishi) 1h. 06m. 11s.

10. E. Ferry/D. Heena (Ford Escort) 1h. 06m. 21s.

Dunlop National Rally Championship (Provisional positions after Round 8): 1. P. Elliott 152 points; 2. N. Maguire 130 points; 3. K. Barrett 75 points; 4. A. Ring 65 points; 5. M. Moffett 58 points; 6. S. Flanagan 53 points; T. Bustard 51 points.