1^st (2) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 33.21

2^nd (5) Adrian McElvaney/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 33.44

3^rd (14) Cathal Arthurs/Jakes Kelly (Accent WRC) 34.00

4^th (8) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Impreza WRC) 34.04

5^th (10) David Armstrong/Ciaran Kelly (Escort WRC) 34.28

6^th (12) Sean Gallagher/Francis Kenny (Escort) 34.32

7^th (15) Kevin Barrett/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 34.33

8^th (17) Dessie Keenan/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 34.36

9^th (18) Gabriel Martin/Mark Kane (Lancer N) 34.57

10^th (21) David McNulty/Keefe Kilcoyne (Escort COS) 34.59

11^th (24) Mac McKenna/John Loughran (Peugeot 205) 35.02

12^th (26) Enda Keenan/Sean Moriarity (Escort) 35.08

13^th (27) Maurice Moffett/Jason McKenna (Starlet) 35.10

= (19) Mark Courtney/Michael Courtney (Celica) 35.10

Rally leader Niall Maguire had only one word to say at the end of the fourth stage "perfect". Four seconds faster than his first run over the stage, the local man extended his lead over Adrian McElvaney to 23 seconds. Adrian McElvaney reckoned he had a good run at that fourth stage, a full ten seconds faster than his first attempt this morning, Adrian quipped at the finish "at least Niall didn’t take 15 out of us that time".

The battle for third is really hotting up now, Cathal Arthurs really finding his feet in the Accent and getting ahead of Ray Breen on that stage. Breen dropped at least ten seconds with a big overshoot, the car trailing safety tape at the stage finish, Ray commenting "a big overshoot – we went out over a crest and the car just went light into a turn 6R".

Davy Armstrong is setting the pace for the Escort WRC crews despite still not having any fifth gear. Sean Gallagher seems pleased with his pace but just can’t match Armstrong. Willie Fannin had a big spin in his GpN Impreza, while John and James Cairns didn’t appear in their similar machine at the end of stage four. Dessie Keenan extended his lead in GpN after taking ten seconds from Gabriel Martin, both drivers reporting trouble free runs.

The 2wd battle is always good on the Monaghan Rally and this year is no exception. Mac McKenna reckons he chose to soft a tyre and dropped a few seconds, his time for the stage 8.38. Enda Keenan reckoned his tyre choice was about right and set a time of 8.35 while Maurice Moffett set an impressive time of 8.30 in his Starlett. Maurice reckoned he had absolutely the wrong tyre for this morning but had chosen a harder compound which he thinks was perfect. Out at the end of that Doogary were the young Dolan brothers, their Civic having burst a water pipe and boiled the engine.

More News Later Michael Patterson and Zoe Todd