By Paddy Clancy
editorial@donegalpost.com

Former motor racing manager Eddie Jordan displayed his other talent – as a rock
drummer – and pounded out an upbeat message for Donegal rally fans.
He said he’s convinced Donegal will host more stages of the World Rally Championships
in 2009.
And Eddie said he wants to be asked back for a repeat performance with his own rock
band.
Several thousand cheered him and his band, Eddie and The Robbers, when the group entertained fans at the final stage of Rally Ireland in Mullaghmore on Sunday.
Eddie, who is also chairman of Rally Ireland said: “Everything about the rally has been
so superb. The drivers say it provided perhaps some of the best stages in the entire
world series this year. I feel confident the north-west of Ireland will host another world
event in two years’ time.”
Rally Ireland started at Stormont on Thursday and drove through another 19 stages in
Sligo, Donegal, Leitrim, Roscommon, Fermanagh and Tyrone before Sunday’s Mullaghmore
finish,
Failte North West chief executive Paul McLoone, one of a special team of negotiators who persuaded world rally bosses to hold their first Irish stage this year, said: “They are
delighted with the organisation, and particularly with the cross-border element.
“It has put the north west of Ireland in pole position for another stage in 2009.”
The Irish section of the world championships, beamed to an estimated 807 million television viewers wordwide, was reckoned to be worth €46 million to the north western counties.
One of Sunday’s final stages – at Rossnowlagh – was cut short by two kms when an oilspill
was discovered on the road at Legaltion.
Gardai denied rumours that it was a deliberate bid to sabotage the rally. A senior officer in Ballyshannon said: “It appears to have been an accidental spill. Foul play is not suspected.
The route was shortened for safety reasons.”