Rallying folklore to be told in Headford man’s book

Rallying folklore to be told in Headford man’s book

A Barraduff motorsport enthusiast has compiled a book on the stories behind the characters of Irish rallying – just in time for Christmas.

Michael O’Mahoney is the managing director of Rentokil-Initial Ireland.

The company is the long-time sponsor of the Killarney Historic Rally and has also funded the appearance of star names like five-time British Champion Jimmy McRae and Belgian legend Paul Lietaer on Killarney events.

Locally he has sponsored the likes of Rob Duggan, the winner of last year’s Historic Rally and funded Craig Breen and Paul Nagle’s 2019 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship-winning campaign last season.

As a result he has built up an impressive list of contacts in Irish and International rallying and he invited 75 of them to contribute to the book which he has titled: ‘Icons of Irish Rallying’

“It was a labour of love,” he said.

Contributors include Breen and Nagle and Donegal co-driver Rory Kennedy who holds the record for the most Rally of the Lakes wins.

The book also contains rallying stories by the clubmen and women who are a central part of the sport.

These include the Hickey family, father and son Charlie and Johnny Hickey and Charlie’s brother John and his daughter Michelle.

Killarney father and son Kevin and Colin O’Donoghue also feature.

Further details of the book and purchase details will be released in the next week.

This article was originally published in the Killarney Advertiser. Kerry Motorsport News is the motorsport content provider to the Killarney Advertiser

It’s a hard cover book with some amazing articles from all of the following: Andrew Nesbitt, James O’Brien, Ray Breen, Frank Kelly, John/Sean Moynihan, James Murphy, Alan Ring, Ken O’Neill, Ronan Greany, Paddy Hopkirk MBE, Todd Falvey, Gareth MacHale, Paudie Callaghan, Charlie/John Hickey, Callum Devine, John/Michelle Hickey, Aaron MacHale, Pat/Noelle Horan, Ken/Keith Lyons, Conor Falvey, Mark Falvey, Kevin Barrett, John Armstrong, AJ Keating, Mike Buckley, Ronan Morgan, Dr. Beatty Crawford, John Coyne, Terry Harryman, James Cullen, Declan Boyle, Noel/Noel O’Sullivan, Paul Nagle, John Kenny, Michael O’Carroll,Austin Shinnors, Gordon Noble,Donal Barrett, Becs Williams, Aaron Johnston, Mick Bracken, Sean Moriarty, Ger Buckley, Ronan McNamee,Declan Gallagher, Bones O’Connor,Tara/Rob/Andrew/Con Duggan, Alan Plum Tyndall, Martin Walsh, Frank O’Mahony, Pauline Gullick, Niall McShea MBE, Austin MacHale, Tom Walsh,John Naylor, Owen Murphy, Louise Aitken Walker MBE, Phil Coulter, Gary Jennings, Colin/Kevin O’Donoghue, Rory Kennedy, Donagh Kelly, Billy Coleman, Cathal Curley,Keith Cronin, Craig Breen,Sam Moffett, Alastair Fisher. Josh Moffett,Rosemary Smith, Mike Marshall, Margaret McRae.