St. Naul’s Under 10 Parish League

Group picture of all who participated in Under 10s Parish League

Four Masters GAA Club Notes

The Lotto jackpot is now £2,300 and the £25 winners from Monday November 5th were Renee Carron, Donegal Town and Patricia Boyle, Frosses. Your continued support for the lotto is greatly appreciated.

Any person looking for a copy of the Minor County Final should contact Sean Dunnion Jnr. as soon as possible. The minors are in action in the Ulster Championship on Saturday November 24th against St. Gall’s of Antrim at Shaw’s Road, Belfast at 2.00 p.m.

Hard luck to the minor hurlers who were defeated by Burt in the county final on Bank Holiday Monday in what can only be described as atrocious playing conditions in Hibernian Park, Burt.
If any person has original team photographs of the 1924, 1982 and 1984 Senior Football Championship winning teams, please contact Sean Dunnion Jnr. as they are required for inclusion in a book by Fr. Seán Ó Gallachóir.

The AGM of the club has been confirmed for Monday November 26th in the Abbey Hotel at 7.30pm sharp.

The Annual Christmas Race Night takes place on Friday, December 28th in the Abbey Hotel at 9.30pm sharp.

Another date for the diary is the Annual Dinner Dance, which takes place in the Best Western Central Hotel on Saturday, February 2nd 2002.

Local Rally Team Bids for Award

Driver Stuart Darcy, Killybegs and navigator Trevor Bustard, Donegal Town, are bidding for the Billy Coleman Rally Award worth £25,000.

Stuart, arguably is Donegal’s and one of Ireland’s great white hopes for reaching the pinnacle of rallying, both at home and abroad. In just four short years, he has made a name for himself as a driver who is going places.

From Killybegs, Stuart began rallying in 1997 with just one event, but was catapulted into the limelight when he finished the closest possible runner-up for the coveted Billy Coleman award at the end of last season. The award, geared towards young Irish drivers, was so nearly Stuarts and although it was lost only on a tie-break to Rory Galligan, his results from 2000 were enough to show exactly of what this 24-year old is made.

Having contested the Dunlop National championship in 2000 with a new car, a group N-Honda Civic V-Tee, Stuart and his co-driver, Trevor Bustard, were in flying form, running in class 2. They annihilated the opposition in each on the 10 rounds they contested, easily winning their class in the Dunlop National Rally Championship. They also took the Border rally title.

Immediately singled out as a novice driver with outstanding abilities, Stuart was awarded the coveted Brian McGrath Memorial trophy for his unparalleled performance throughout the year.

For this year, Stuart planned to contest the Super 106 cup - run within selected rounds of the British Rally Championship and in the UK, but with the Foot & Mouth crisis, like everyone else, his foray was restricted to just two outings, one in the UK and one in France. Despite extremely strong showings during the events, he did not finish and, in between, he was struck an even bigger blow when his father, Frank, died very suddenly and he, as the eldest of the Darcy family, was left to take over the family business.

Said Stuart, “Obviously all thoughts of rallying were put on hold and it was only when I was nominated for the Billy Coleman award again - based on last year’s results - that I decided to put a plan into action. My father was my biggest motivator and he wanted me to get to the top in rallying - he was behind me all the way. Now I’ve got through the last couple of months, I’m fully committed to doing that in his memory and more determined than ever.”

The previous year, in 1999, had seen the enthusiastic and personable youngster only compete in two outings in Ballina and Newry. It was the third season of competition (albeit partial) with an outdated Toyota Corolla GT, but the 1600cc machine still brought the pair home in third place in Class 10 in the Mayo Stages and in fourth in Newry.

Work commitments took Stuart to the USA, thus curtailing his rally outings. 1998 was Stuart’s first ‘real’ season in competition, having only competed in the Donegal Harvest Rally the year before, and despite leading his class but finishing last as a result of a penalty, the hydraulic engineer totally excelled.

He contested five national rounds, three of which also counted towards the Border championship, in which he was a fine runner-up in Class 14B, and with only a few events under his belt that year, Stuart also took second place in the National Championship.

A poignant reminder of the late Mark Fisher and his father Bertie - Stuart’s car was previously driven by Mark during his successful rallying career. At the up-coming motor show in the RDS this car will be re-sprayed with Mark’s livery and will be on display at the Fisher Memorial Stand.

Letterbarrow to mark 25th anniversary

Where were you on August 1st, 1976 - when Letterbarrow F.C. played their first game in the Donegal League against Castle F.C. at ‘The Home’?

Twenty five years on, many things have changed, but Letterbarrow F.C. continues and they are going to mark the 25th anniversary with a celebration dinner dance in the Abbey Hotel, Donegal Town on Friday, 4th January, 2002. The organising committee are calling on all players and supporters, past and present, to be there on the night.

A special booklet, charting the 25 years, is being prepared and will be available on the night. Over these years, a large number of players have worn the club colours - from Kilcar to Strabane and even further afield, while the club has had a myriad of home venues. The stories to be told are many and varied, and will be included in the celebratory booklet. Tickets for the special occasion will be available in the coming weeks and enquiries should be directed to any of the present club officers.

Condroz Rally

Donegal Town Crew Andy Bassett and Keith Stevenson had an eventful outing on the Condroz Rally based in Huy, Belgium on November 4th and 5th with their Golf Diesel Tdi.

A bad choice of tyres on the first batch of three stages saw the crew struggling with a lack of grip, which resulted in a very unsettling high-speed spin. A broken battery connection on stage three meant that by the time the crew reached the service point in the town of Huy they had lost over 60 seconds to the Seat Tdi’s.

The rest of the day saw all the diesel crews locked in intensive battle, with the lead going backwards and forwards. The addition of fog after darkness made driving conditions even more difficult, and also caused one of the local crews Tdi to retire.

However Sunday dawned bright and clear and the Donegal Town Crew started to whittle away at the leader over the first 6 stages. By the midday halt, they were just 42 seconds behind the Diesel Class leader.

“At lunchtime we made the decision to give the diesel trophy our best shot” said Stevenson. “We stormed over Stage 17 and the inevitable happened; we broke a driveshaft just 200 metres from the stage finish. Although we were disappointed we had given it our best shot, the Golf Tdi had shown good speed and had withstood some incredible abuse, and the Rene George Racing service crew had performed very well. We could not have done much more.”

That completes the 2001 season for the Tdi crew, who are now planning their next event, the Arctic Rally in the frozen north of Finland in January.