Manus Kelly death: Tributes paid to driver killed in Donegal Rally crash

Manus Kelly
Sportsfile
James Morris24 June 2019

Tributes have been paid to “immensely popular” motor racing driver Manus Kelly after he died in a crash at the Donegal Rally in Ireland.

Businessman Mr Kelly, who was also a newly elected member of Donegal County Council, was fatally injured when his car crashed during the rally on Sunday afternoon.

Confirming his death, Motorsport Ireland said: “Donegal Motor Club and Motorsport Ireland would like to extend its sympathies to the family and friends of Manus Kelly who was fatally injured during a tragic accident while competing in the Donegal International Rally on Sunday, June 23.

“Manus was a three-time winner of the rally and was immensely popular in the rally fraternity.

“He was elected to Donegal County Council in the recent elections and was a prominent businessman in Donegal.

“Our thoughts are with his family and all affected at this time.”

Donegal County Council is yet to comment on Mr Kelly’s death.

He was a member of the Fianna Fáil party and was a councillor for the district of Letterkenny.

Independent.ie reported Mr Kelly was a father-of-five and founder of Tailored Facility Solutions, which employs 60 people.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was reported as saying his "racing talent was limitless" and that he was "widely respected and loved by all of the rally community here in Ireland".

Of his political life, he added: "It was obvious throughout his recent election campaign that he was passionate and entirely committed to serving the people of the Letterkenny electoral area which he cherished."

On Friday, speaking ahead the rally, Mr Kelly had said in an interview: “Can’t wait. Bring it on.”

The crash happened at about 12.30pm on Sunday, the final leg of the three-day event.

Mr Kelly’s navigator, a man aged in his 30s, was injured and rushed to Letterkenny University Hospital. His injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in