Fixture: Saturday, March 7: RFL Division 1B v Aughnamullen (Away) at 4.15pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 7, 8, 11 and 27. Jackpot of €1,200 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Martin McCarville c/o Séamus Treanor; €40 Colm McAleer c/o Barry Sullivan; €40 Jimmy McManus c/o Paudge Connolly; €40 John McKenna c/o Cosy Bar. Jackpot for Sunday, March 8 is €1,300 and Rose Hughes and Noel Hennessy are on duty. All support for our Lotto is greatly appreciated.

 

Membership: Membership fees for 2015 are being maintained as follows: €20 per adult, €10 per child or €50 for a family of two adults and any number of children. Money can be paid in the clubhouse each Sunday night, or any time to registrar Dermot Coyle (086 0734098) Jimmy Croarkin (087 1249635), Peter Coyle (087 9700858), or in Terry’s Bar or the Cosy Bar. Players (and parents of juveniles) at all levels are reminded that they must be registered before they can play in competitions. All members must be paid up by March 31 to have voting rights at the club’s AGM.

 

Reserves: Our McKeown Cup team started the RFL Division Three with a hard-earned 3-9 to 2-12 draw at home to Killeevan last Sunday. After trailing by four points at half-time, our lads came back strongly, with Niall Greenan leading the scoring, to move into the lead, only for Killeevan to level it up again with two late points. Our next game in this competition is away to Aghabog on Sunday week.

Team: Cónall McKenna; Conor Devlin, Paul Smyth; Conor Forde, Carl Foentjies, Tiarnán Bramley; Dónal McCarthy, James McKenna; Francis Lynch, Gary Murray, Niall Greenan; David Carey, Jason McHugh.

Subs: Conor Burns for Carey, Thomas Bourke for Carey.

This Saturday, it’s the turn of the O’Duffy Cup team to get the RFL Division 1B campaign underway with an away game against Aughnamullen at 4.15. Good luck to Declan McArdle, Jimmy Croarkin and the panel.

 

Saturday-morning coaching: Our popular Saturday-morning coaching and games sessions for U-6s, U-8s & U-10s will be starting up again shortly (watch this space). Saturday-morning football for boys and girls in Gavan Duffy Park continues to go from strength to strength, with the numbers attending growing year on year. The club is very fortunate to have a pool of hardworking and dedicated individuals who look after and coach these ‘early learners’. However, we could do with additional support. We are holding an open night this Friday (March 6) for parents, guardians or family members who might have an interest in finding out what exactly being a coach or just helping out on a Saturday entails. Our Saturday-morning activities are fun-filled and enjoyed by the children. They are an equally rewarding and enjoyable experience to those who help make it happen. So if you have ever thought about getting involved, but weren’t sure about what it entailed or how to go about it please come to the clubhouse this Friday at 7pm and take it from there.

 

Session: We are hosting a traditional Irish music session in the clubhouse this Friday night (March 6) at 9pm. All musicians and listeners are encouraged to join us for a good night’s entertainment.

 

Dates to remember: Two club events coming up next month are the town’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17 and the Juvenile Club’s Cake Sale in the Shopping Centre on Saturday, March 21. We are also preparing to host the second Darkness into Light Monaghan 5km walk/run in the early morning of Saturday, May 9, while our annual Juvenile Club Street Collection will take place on June 20 & 21. On the pitch, our senior footballers will start their league on Sunday, March 22 away to Donaghmoyne, with our MFL Division One campaign to begin on March 17. We are due to enter the O’Duffy Cup and McKeown Cup reserve championships on May 10 and May 16 respectively. The start dates for the underage competitions are as follows: Under-16 Football League: April 9; Under-14 Football Leagues: March 14: Under-12 Spring Leagues: March 21. Provisional club fixtures for 2015 can be viewed on our website, www.monaghanharps.gaa.ie.

 

Know Your Sport: Our senior team’s Know Your Sport fundraiser is up and running, with forms available from all players. Time is running out to get your name in to answer the 20 questions, prove your knowledge of a range of sports and gain bragging rights in the club! Entries cost €10 each, with a prize-fund of €300. All support appreciated.

 

Pitch bookings: All pitch bookings for matches and training sessions this year must be made via 086 1957155. Training times have been allotted and any changes must be notified. Mentors are reminded that the main pitch remains closed until March 10 on the advice of the grounds development committee.

 

Clubhouse: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 for more information.

 

County teams: Good luck to Neil McAdam and the Monaghan senior footballers in this Sunday’s NFL game against Donegal in Letterkenny, when they will attempt to bounce back from last week’s loss to Mayo. Good luck also to the county minor hurlers and all the Harps lads involved in this Saturday’s Ulster league opener against Louth. Well done to Tessa Fleming and Muireann and Eimear O’Rourke on the ladies’ win over Laois.

 

Congratulations: To Jason McHugh, who helped Maynooth University win an All-Ireland Freshers Football title recently.

 

Easter Camp: 2015 will see Gavan Duffy Park host a Monaghan GAA Easter Camp for the first time. The three-day camp, for boys and girls aged between 5 and 12, will take place on April 7, 8 and 9 from 10am to 2.30pm each day and will feature football, hurling and camogie. The camps cost €40 for the first child and €35 for other children from the same family, with each participant receiving a hoodie.

 

Refereeing: Anyone interested in taking up refereeing at any level is asked to contact a committee member. For more information on the new ‘Put Your Whistle Where Your Mouth Is’ recruitment campaign, see the Monaghan GAA website.