The triple Circuit of Ireland winner was a steady seventh on the Galway Summer Rally a fortnight ago and he will step up his comeback on the Clare Stages Rally next weekend.

But now he says he would be happy to miss Ireland's first World championship rally if it means Kris Meeke can take part.

It was in McGarrity's Subaru S11, running under the Pirelli banner, that Meeke won the Ulster International last weekend. Such was the manner of his victory over reigning Irish Tarmac champion Eugene Donnelly that it has sparked widespread calls for the 27-year-old from Dungannon to get his chance to compete against the world's best on Rally Ireland.

Meeke, it should be remembered, is the driver who spent three years in the Junior World championship with Citroen but walked away at the end of last season when it became apparent he wasn't going to find a way into one of the factory teams in the full World series.

He said he was "going back to the real world"; back to where "they don't ask to see the size of your wallet before the look at your CV".

You see, Meeke has loads of ability, he just hasn't any money - at least not the two million quid it takes to buy your way into one of the second string manufacturers teams. And that, realistically, is the only way aspiring drivers ever get the chance to become the new Sebastien Loeb or Marcus Gronholm.

Dispirited and, yes, disgusted, he turned his back on rallying until former Irish champion Kenny McKinstry put together a deal for Meeke to drive a WRC Subaru S11 on the Circuit of Ireland at Easter.

Despite only ever having driven a WRC car once before, and never on tarmac, he was fastest on the first stage and went on to lead the rally for a time ahead of British champion Mark Higgins and Donnelly.

A spin and a puncture dropped him back to third before he was forced to retire with engine problems near the end.

Little more than a fortnight later, he was back in the McKinstry Subaru and led the Rally of the Lakes from start to finish, shattering the record for Ireland's iconic special stage, Moll's Gap, on his first-ever run up and over the mountain pass.

But that was it. With no money and no car (these machines cost in the region of £400,000 before they turn a wheel) Meeke was back teaching others how to drive at a rally school just across the border.

And he would still have been on the sidelines but for a unique set of circumstances surrounding the Pirelli car on the Ulster Rally.

It is usually driven by Manxman Higgins on this side of the Irish Sea but the Ulster event counted for both the Irish and British championships and Higgins was committed to driving a production Subaru for his British sponsors.

It looked like another certain victory for the BF Goodrich-tyred Subaru of Donnelly, a victory that would virtually assure him of a record fourth Irish Tarmac title in a row.

But if Donnelly could be beaten, and Higgins finish close up behind, there might still be all to play for in a Pirelli versus Goodrich shoot-out in the final round in Cork.

Pirelli sent for Meeke!

And he delivered in such style that everyone, including the organisers of Rally Ireland, want him there in November. But there is a big stumbling block. £40,000!

That's what it will cost to run him in a competitive car against the world superstars like Loeb and Gronholm.

McGarrity, who owns the S11 Subaru Meeke drove last weekend, is an keen as everyone else.

"I would love to see Kris doing Rally Ireland," he says. "I genuinely believe he could make the top five, maybe even the top three.

"Looking at it realistically, my arm still isn't 100 per cent and if I am being sensible I know that I should be looking at going back on the big stage in the Galway International in February, not Rally Ireland in November. And if it means that we can get a deal together for Kris to drive the S11, or even an S12 maybe, I'll take the sensible option for once.

"He was happy with the team we had around him last weekend and I would rather keep it that way instead of having to split resources.

"But World championship rallies aren't cheap and it is going to cost £40,000-plus to put him out there in a competitive car. Finding that kind of money is not going to be easy but there has to be a way - he deserves the chance to prove once and for all he is world class."