Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 4, 11, 15 and 17. Jackpot of €2,900 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Peter Oliver Loughran c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Joanna McKenna c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club); €40 Patricia McCann c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Darren McGill c/o Liadhan Treanor. Jackpot for Sunday, October 26 is €3,000 and Ann and Adrian Trappe are on duty. The Lotto plays an essential part in the running of the club and we ask for everyone’s continued support. Tickets can be left into the clubhouse from 7.45pm each Sunday.

 

Recreational Tournament: Our annual recreational football tournament in memory of deceased club members takes place at Gavan Duffy Park this Sunday, October 26, starting at 1pm sharp. Two Harps teams will compete, along with Scotstown, Truagh, Eskra (Tyrone) and Dromahair (Leitrim). The money raised will once again go to the North Monaghan Cancer Treatment Support group. All support welcome!

 

Poker: The Monaghan Harps Poker Classic gets a busy weekend underway in the clubhouse this Saturday night. Tickets are available from senior players and club members now and you can also pay in on the night. Please support!

 

Seniors: Our senior footballers continued their bid for a league semi-final place with a 3-10 to 0-14 win away to Truagh last Sunday. We opened the scoring with a fifth-minute goal by Evan Doherty and although Truagh got the next two points, scores from Liam, Dónal and Niall Hahessy, Fearghal McMahon and Gary White had us in charge by the end of the opening quarter. Truagh hit the next five points to draw level, but efforts by Nicholas Treanor and Gary had us ahead by 1-7 to 0-9 at half-time. A point by Dónal and a Nicholas Treanor goal got us off to a strong start in the second half, before David Hughes added his name to the list of scorers. Neil McAdam fired to the net to open up a seven-point gap and another point from Fearghal was enough to keep us well clear by the end.

Team and scorers: Ashley White; John Mulligan, David Hughes (0-1), Niall Hahessy (0-1); Aodhán Óg McAnespie, Neil McAdam (1-0), Liam Hahessy (0-1); Stephen Driver (Capt.), Nicholas Scott; Dónal Hahessy (0-2f), Gary White (0-2), Michael Galligan; Nicholas Treanor (1-1), Evan Doherty (1-0), Fearghal McMahon (0-2).

Subs: Peter Coyle for G White (inj., 29 mins), Dean Fanning for Doherty (52), Mustafa Gamal for L Hahessy (black card, 60).

Our decisive last league game away to Castleblayney, has been postponed until Sunday week, November 2, due to Blayney’s involvement in the Ulster Club JHC Final.

 

U-13: Well done to our Under-13 football team, who reached the final of the recent floodlit blitz in Cloghan. The format incentivised  skills such as scoring with your weaker side or from outside 30 metres with extra points  Our team played very well throughout, topping their group, where they had wins over Clontibret, Tyholland and Toome. This qualified us for a cup semi-final where we had a hard-fought victory over Drumhowan. We played Carrickmacross in the final. This was a very well-contested game with some excellent passages of play from both sides and Carrick finishing strongly to win an exciting encounter. We would like to compliment the staff at Cloghan, in particular Patrick McCarron, on a very enjoyable and well-run event. Well done to our players: Oisín Fagan, Killian Conlon, Annan Connor, Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh, Lorcan O’Rourke, Tiarnán O’Rourke, Stephen Ward, Lochlainn Power, Eoghan McGinnity and Terence McDonald and mentors Finbarr Conlon, Mel McMorrow and Eugene McGinnity.

 

Schools: Congratulations to St. Mary’s Boys School, Monaghan, who won the McGinn Cup with a dominant performance in the final against Castleblayney last Saturday. Well done to Daragh Croarkin, Liam Conway, Ryan McSkeane, Tiarnán O’Rourke, Jake Power, Adam McGarry, Deivydas Kaklauskas, Michael Bradley, Denas Juozaitis (who plays handball for the Harps but has yet to join our footballers), Shay Cooney (who was unfortunately injured for the final), Mark McManus, Conor Treanor, Ben Myers and Aidan Cunningham, who were all part of the St. Mary’s panel. Our lads were central to the Monaghan win, with Deivydas Kaklauskas (4-1), Adam McGarry (0-4), Jake Power (1-1), Daragh Croarkin (0-2) and Tiarnán O’Rourke (0-1) between them contributing all but a point of their 5-10 total.

 

Spraoi Scór: A great night’s entertainment was had by all at County Spraoi Scór, held in Clontibret last Friday night. We had 13 children representing the Monaghan Harps club, taking part in five different competitions. Órla Corrigan, Áine Aughey and Sarah Douglas won second place in the Rince Foirne with a beautiful three-hand reel. Ally & Ethan McCarron competed in the Amhránaiocht Aonair, where Ally won third place with her song “Come with me over the mountain”. Next on the programme, we had Aithriseoireacht, in which Emma Corrigan and Ally McCarron recited poetry, with Emma winning third place for her funny story about ‘Rinder-Cella’. Before the sos was a great music competition with the Harps Group of Órla Corrigan, Katie Reilly, Emma Corrigan, Jamie Lawlor and Donna Tracey winning second place in the Ceol Uirlise. The night finished off with Tráth na gCeist, in which the Harps were represented by Daragh Croarkin, Mark McManus, Diarmuid McGee and Dean Conlon. Well done to all the kids who participated in the Spraoi Scór competition. We hope you all enjoyed the experience and will be back next year for more. A big thank you to all the coaches who prepared the children for the competitions and also to the parents for running round after the kids. Comhgairdeachas gach aon duine!

 

U-16: Our double-winning Under-16 footballers are due to enter the Paul McGirr Ulster Championship in Dromore with a quarter-final against Derry champions Dungiven on Saturday week (November 1). More details next week.

 

Well done: To the Harps senior ladies, who won their Ulster Club IFC semi-final at home to Omagh last Sunday and will now play Four Masters in the final at Brewster Park on Sunday week.

 

Fundraising: A presentation about a potential fundraiser for the club will take place in the clubhouse this Thursday at 7pm. All welcome.

 

Halloween: The club is supporting the Monaghan Town Halloween Festival next weekend. Stewards are needed between 5.30 and 7pm next Friday (October 31) and for two-hour slots between 2 and 9pm on Saturday, November 1. Please contact Dermot Coyle on 086 0734098 to volunteer.

 

Meeting: The next meeting regarding recruiting coaches to the club is on next Thursday (October 30) at 8.30pm.

 

Votes of sympathy: At the October club meeting, votes of sympathy were passed to the families of John Healy, Stephen Crotty, Mary Mallon, Anna Sweeney and PJ McQuaid. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.

 

Garda vetting: Club members who have received their Garda vetting clearance forms are asked to send a photocopy of same to Thomas McCabe.

 

AGM: The club’s Annual General Meeting will take place in the clubhouse on Thursday, November 27, with the juvenile AGM on a week earlier (November 20).

 

Ladies: ULSTER FINAL BECKONS! On Sunday last our senior team defeated Omagh St. Enda’s in the Ulster Intermediate Club semi-final on home ground at Gavan Duffy Park. A large crowd from both sides turned out to support the ladies in what was a tight affair until almost the final whistle. The Harps went in one point down (0-6 to 0-5), despite having played with the slight advantage of the swirling wind in the first half. Just before half-time, an Omagh player received a yellow card for a high tackle on Gráinne Treanor. The second half was a different affair, with the Harps defence getting on top and providing great ball for the forward line to create scoring chances. A second St. Enda’s player was then sin-binned for a sliding tackle on Yvonne Connell and the Harps started to put some daylight between the teams on the scoreboard. A well-taken goal by Muireann O’Rourke, created by Orla Callan, opened up a decent lead, but Omagh were still dangerous with every ball that reached their forwards. Monaghan Harps lost Donna Marie Morgan and Niamh Maguire through injury but held on to record a 1-10 to 0-9 victory. We now play Four Masters, Donegal in the Ulster Intermediate Final on November 2 at Brewster Park, Enniskillen. The team against Omagh was: Allison Treanor, Niamh Maguire, Laura McManus, Gráinne Treanor, Shauna Hetherington, Tessa Fleming, Orla Whelan, Muireann O’Rourke, Yvonne Connell, Jennifer Treanor, Emma Clerkin, Eimear O’Rourke, Sinéad Maguire, Donna Marie Morgan, Tierna Lavelle, Orla Callan and Karla Doherty

Hard luck to our U-16s, who were beaten by Éire Óg in last Wednesday’s county semi-final by the narrowest of margins. The game, which was played in Cloghan, resulted in an unfortunate one-point loss: 3-4 to 1-9. The Harps team was: Sophie Callan, Laura Duffy, Shannon Donnelly (Vice-Capt.), Claire Duffy, Karla Clerkin, Éadaoin Maguire (Capt.), Emma Clerkin, Shauna Hetherington, Niamh Corrigan, Tara Burns, Aisling Ferguson, Katie O’Reilly, Aisling Gallagher and Helen McCrystal

Training for seniors continues on Tuesday and Friday at 7pm this week in Rooskey.

U-12/U-14 training continues on Thursdays from 6.30-7.30pm and on Saturdays from 10.30-11.30am in Rooskey.

A big thank you to everyone that helped out and supported the club in any way as part of our U-12 and U-14 Greenway sponsored walk last Saturday. All help is much appreciated.