Niall Daly nails final effort to win in Armagh after vital late team work

*Niall Daly from promoting club Armagh City Cycles claims victory in the main event after some great team work proved instrumental in the final (Photo: Jerome Rafferty)*

Niall Daly was celebrating a brilliant win in his own club's Armagh City Cyclists Road Races on Sunday after he executed the last step in a fine team effort.

Coming to the end of 86km of racing - over 4½ laps of the circuit from the Navan Centre in Armagh - Daly and the others in the bunch were far from assured at a shot at victory as a breakaway still dangled off the front.

That small group included, among others, Emyvale CC's Declan McEntee and Michéal Flood, and as the line approach, in very wet racing conditions, they looked like they had more than a fighting chance at staying away.

However, Daly's Armagh City Cyclists team mates were clearly intent on taking a victory on home roads. They spearheaded the chase of the escapees, with Gary Lyons and Neil Rafferty stepping up strongly.

They reeled in the breakaway, which had a lead of about 25 seconds in the final, before Daly pulled the trigger in the final dash for the line. He took victory, in an A3-only race, from Mark McGrady (Crossgar Cycling Club) and Ryan Hunter Errigal (Cycling Club).

Emyvale CC's Flood was 4th with Aidan Fullerton (Foyle CC) 5th and Timmy Murphy (Lakeside Wheelers Mullingar) rounding out the top six. Darcey Harkness (VC Glendale) took 10th place, and with it she was leading woman on the day.

In the A4 race, the fight for victory came down to a very right sprint between two Four Masters CC riders; Hugh Bonner getting the better of Jonathan Patton, with Damien Donoghue (Tuam Cycling Club) in 3rd.

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