2026 March Monaghan Night Navigation Trial

Monaghan Night Navigation Trial – 7th/8th March 2026

Co. Monaghan Motor Club hosted the final round of the 2025/26 National Night Navigation Championship on Saturday 7th March.

[This report is based on an account by Oisin Sherlock that appeared on the County Monaghan Motor Club news feed. I have added in some information to help DMC followers get a feel for the nature of the event, and used photos I took on the night. The awards photo is by Peter Cassidy. Derek Smyth.]

First time Clerk of the Course Aaron McElroy, assisted by Declan Tynan, organised an 80-mile event based out of the Sean McDermotts GAA Complex in Threemilehouse, which, as it’s name suggests, is just three miles out of Monaghan Town in the direction of Newbliss.

35 crews had signed up for the challenge and the excellent facilities at the start venue made the plotting of route that bit easier; a far cry from the days of plotting route in the rally car with a map light for illumination!  

The first route card was issued at 6.30pm and this gave details of roads “not as map”, and any “no-goers” to be avoided.  It is critical that these are marked properly on maps because an hour later comes “Route Card 2” with the details of the route to be followed.

The event took in areas such as Kileevan, Doohat, Drum, Aghabog and Corcaghan, all of them in the area between Monaghan Town and Clones and all on Map 28A.  This is “dismantled railway” territory so crews could expect narrow bridges in places and repurposed track beds in farm locations.

The first car away from Time Control A at 9pm was Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor in a Subaru Impreza.  In fact, all but 5 entries were Subaru Impreza’s, the remainder being Subaru Legacy models.  These 2 litre, 4WD, non-turbo cars are ideal for night trials using the occasional farm lane which can be muddy.

The first section of the rally to Time Control B, about half the overall distance, had 19 intermediate time points.  The leading 10 crews all had less than 10 penalties, with car 4, Peter Deery/David McCrudden showing just one penalty mark.  Derek Mackarel/Conor Boylan and Andy Mackarel/Richard Cassidy were tied with 2 penalty marks and Michael Carbin/Conor Mohan were next up with 3 penalties.

The sympathy vote has to go to Novice crew Eoin Quinn/Patrick Masterson who suffered alternator failure just after Time Point 1.  Also in a spot of bother were top seeds Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor, picking up 50 penalty marks at TP17, spoiling an otherwise very competitive run.

The second half of the rally had a further 18 checkpoints before reaching Time Control C.  Derek Mackarel was navigated to the overall win by Conor Boylan, the pair incurring a total of six marks from acquired lateness during the event.

There was a three-way tie for 2nd place with David McCrudden/Peter Deery (2nd), Conor Mohan/Michael Carbin (3rd) and Evin Hughes/Pakie Duffy (4th) all finishing on 11 marks.  The finishing order was determined by the furthest cleanest rule. 

Andrew Mackarel/Richard Cassidy took the semi-expert class win and 6th place overall with 17 marks, just one mark ahead of Shane Laverty/Ciaran Coyle who were runners up Semi-experts. Sean McConnell/Anthony McDonald finished 3rd in the class.

The first Novice crew checked in at 12th place overall with just 28 penalty marks, this being Aaron McGorman/Darren Lavery. Aidan McDevitt/Aidan Sweeney finished second in the class, with James Logue/Keith Sheridan third.

Garry Gallagher/Jake Mahony finished first in the Beginner class with 87 penalty marks, ahead of Abraham and Elijan Dixon. Third in class went to Stefan McCann/Damien Sheridan. 

After the awards were presented both Aaron and Declan thanked all the officials who came to man all the checkpoint locations, residents along the route and the landowners for allowing the event to use their property.

RESULTS

Overall Winners: Derek Mackarel / Conor Boylan; 6 marks

Class Experts:

1. Peter Deery / David McCrudden; 11 marks
2. Michael Corbin / Conor Mohan; 11 marks
3. Pakie Duffy / Evin Hughes; 11 Marks

Class Semi-Experts:

1. Andy Mackarel / Richard Cassidy; 17 marks
2. Shane Laverty / Ciaran Coyle; 18 marks
3. Sean McConnell / Anthony McDonald; 23 marks

Class Novices:

1. Aaron McGorman / Darren Lavery; 28 marks
2. Aidan McDevitt / Aidan Sweeney; 65 marks
3. James Logue / Keith Sheridan; 77 marks

Class Beginners:

1. Garry Gallagher / Jake Mahony; 87 marks
2. Abraham Dixon / Elijah Dickson; 102 marks
3. Stefan McCann / Damien Sheridan; 105 marks