Fixtures: Saturday, April 14: U-13 FL Division One v Castleblayney (Home) at 4pm; U-11 Spring League Zone A v Castleblayney (Away) at 12pm; Zone B v Castleblayney (Away) at 1pm

Sunday, April 15: RFL Division 1B v Killanny (Away) at 2pm

Monday, April 16: U-15 HL v East Cavan Gaels (Away) at 6.30pm

Wednesday, April 18: RFL Division 1B v Aughnamullen (Home) at 7.15pm; U-11 Spring League Zone A v Magheracloone (Home) at 6pm; Zone B v Magheracloone (Home) at 7pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 7, 15, 21 and 23. Jackpot of €1,500 not won. Residual prizes: €100: Jamie Corrigan c/o Eileen Morgan; €40 Dermot McKenna c/o Bernie McKenna; €40 Alma McRory c/o Barry Sullivan; €40 Eugene Greenan c/o Séamus Treanor. Jackpot for Sunday, April 15 is €1,600 and Mary McRory, Úna Forde and Rose Donnelly are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in our clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome. Thanks to everyone for their support for our Lotto, which plays a critical role in our club’s funding. We ask all club members to continue to promote our Lotto as much as possible.

 

 Saturday-morning coaching: Our popular Saturday-morning coaching and games sessions for our youngest juveniles start up again this weekend (April 14) at 10am. Saturday-morning football for boys and girls in Gavan Duffy Park continues to go from strength to strength. The club is very fortunate to have a pool of hardworking and dedicated individuals who look after and coach these ‘early learners’. Our Saturday-morning activities are fun-filled and enjoyed by the children and are an equally rewarding and enjoyable experience to those who help make it happen, so we encourage anyone with an interest to get involved.

 

Seniors: We lost out at home to Clontibret in the Senior Football League last Saturday. The concession of two first-half goals left us facing an uphill battle and although points from Neil McAdam and Michael Galligan eventually got our challenge going, we trailed by 2-4 to 0-4 at half-time. Neil, Michael, Shane Smyth, Kevin Loughran and Dean Fanning were on target in the second half, but we couldn’t get the goals we needed to get back into the game and Clontibret saw out a 2-12 to 0-10 win.

Team and scorers: Emmett McArdle; Thomas Croarkin, Gareth Treanor, Niall Hahessy; Nicholas Scott (Capt.), Conor Galligan, Kevin Loughran (0-1); Neil McAdam (0-3, 1f), Aodhán Óg McAnespie; Éimhín Morahan, Liam Hahessy, Michael Galligan (0-3, 2f); Gary White, Dean Fanning (0-1f), Shane Smyth (0-2).

Subs: John Mulligan for Morahan (41 mins), David Lowry for N Hahessy (44), Francis Lynch for White (58), Aidan Burns for Treanor (59).

Our next SFL game is away to Scotstown on Sunday week (April 22).

 

Reserves: Both of our reserve teams have Platinum Tanks RFL games this weekend. We are away to Killanny in Division 1B on Sunday at 2pm.

 

Minors: Our minor footballers (U-18) got off the mark in Group B of Division One with a dramatic win away to Scotstown last Tuesday (April 3). Scotstown made the brighter start and although Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh, Conor McCrystal and Adam O’Neill kicked points in the first half, our lads changed ends trailing by 0-8 to 0-4. Scores after the restart from Lochlainn Power and Adam were soon wiped out by Scotstown, who went eight points clear, before a great comeback from our lads saw them outscore the hosts by 2-4 to 0-1 in the final stages. 1-1 by Ógie and points from Conor McCrystal and Anann Connor set up an exciting finish, which then saw Conor win a penalty and tuck it away to claim a 2-10 to 1-12 win. Our minors hosted Aughnamullen on Tuesday. Check online for result.

Team and scorers: Daragh Croarkin; Andrew Lyden, David Leane, James McKenny; Conor Devlin, Killian Conlon, Stephen Ward; Lorcan O’Rourke, Lochlainn Power (0-1); Luke Coyle, Conor McCrystal (1-2, 0-1f), Dean Doherty; Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh (Capt., 1-3), Oisín Power, Oisín Fagan.

Subs used: Adam O’Neill (0-2), Anann Connor (0-2).

 

U-15: The U-15 Football Leagues got underway last week with home games for both of our teams. We took on Magheracloone in Division One on Thursday, when a team short several players put in a spirited performance throughout. Points by Daragh Croarkin, Shay Cooney, Ben Myers and Jake Power kept us in touch in a low-scoring start, before Magheracloone hit the front with a quick scoring burst. Shay hit back with 1-2 before half-time, only for Magheracloone to pull away with another brace of goals. Our lads continued to plug away to the end, with Jake Power kicking three points and Shay converting a brace of penalties, but we fell short on a scoreline of 4-11 to 3-9.

Team and scorers: Karol Parszywka; Michael McMorrow, Liam Conway (Capt.), Jordan Crampton; Mark McManus, Kevin Moran, Gary Devlin; Daragh Croarkin (0-1f), Josh Lavery; Jamie Coyle, Jake McConnon, Jake Power (0-4, 3f); Josh Kelly, Ben Myers (0-1f), Shay Cooney (3-3, 2-0 pens, 0-1f).

We ran out convincing winners over Killeevan in Division Five on Friday evening. A dominant first-half display saw Josh Kelly, Luke McManus, Karol Parszywka, Ben Myers, Josh Lavery and Michael McMorrow all get on the scoresheet. Killeevan competed better after the restart, but further scores from Josh Kelly, Luke and Mark McManus and Conor Treanor sealed an opening-round win.

Team and scorers: Oisín Reilly; Jordan Crampton, Mark McManus (1-0); Michael McMorrow (0-1), Jake McConnon; Ben Myers (Capt., 1-1), Josh Lavery (0-1); Gregory O’Connell, Josh Kelly (2-1); Luke McManus (1-2, 0-1f), Karol Parszywka (2-0).

Subs used: Conor Treanor (0-3), Dean Conlon.

 

U-13: Our U-13 FL Division One game against Castleblayney has been rescheduled for this Saturday (now with a 4pm throw-in at Gavan Duffy Park). Well done to our Division Five team, who continued their winning start away to Donaghmoyne last Saturday. The lads put a slow start behind them to run out winners in a high-scoring game (9-9 to 5-8).

 

U-11: Our U-11 teams are due to continue the Spring League with double-headers away to Castleblayney this Saturday and at home to Magheracloone next Wednesday (April 18). Please check online to confirm fixtures.

 

County: Well done to Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh, Lochlainn Power and the county minor footballers on winning their Ulster league semi-final against Tyrone and good luck in this Saturday’s final against Donegal in Drumragh.

 

Schools: Hard luck to Liam Conway, Daragh Croarkin, Dean Doherty, Dylan Ballantine, Nathan Lavery, Tiarnán O’Rourke, manager Neil McAdam and the St. Macartan’s College Brock Cup team on their quarter-final defeat against Abbey CBS last week.

 

Membership: Registration fees for 2018 are now overdue and can be paid to club registrar Kevin Treanor or in the clubhouse. Fees are €20 for players up to and including U-11; €30 for all other players and members and €60 for a family membership. Please note that all players must be paid-up members to be insured for 2018.

 

Dates to remember: Our Saturday-morning coaching for juveniles kicks off this week. The juvenile club’s annual Cake Sale is set for April 28. Darkness into Light will take place for a fifth time in Monaghan on May 12, with registration open online now. The Ladies Club’s Abbey Fanning Tournament is scheduled for June 9.

 

Sponsor a Seat: To celebrate and promote the continued development of our facilities at Gavan Duffy Park, we are offering the unique opportunity to sponsor/dedicate a seat in our stand at a cost of €50. See our club website (monaghanharps.gaa.ie) or contact Club Secretary Val Forde (secretary.monaghanharps.monaghan@gaa.ie) or any committee member for more details.

 

Notes: Anyone who has news for inclusion in the club notes can send an email to pro.monaghanharps.monaghan@gaa.ie by Tuesday morning.

 

Gavan Duffy Park: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 or Pádraig Callan on 087 2543511 for more information. Anyone looking to book the clubhouse for meetings, functions, etc. is asked to please give a week’s notice for convenience.

 

Hurling:

U-13: Our U-13 team started the league with a 2-3 to 1-4 win at home to Truagh on Monday evening.

 

U-15: With our opening league fixture against Lisbellaw having been postponed, we travel to East Cavan Gaels next Monday for our first league game of the year. Throw-in is at 6.30pm.

 

Senior: After an opening-round win over Carrick in the league for the north-Monaghan Saint Macartan’s amalgamation team (1-10 to 2-4), we travel to Camlough this Thursday to play Craobh Rua. Throw-in is at 7.15pm.

 

Best wishes: We wish a speedy recovery to full health to former Hurling Club secretary Valerie McKenna.

 

Juvenile: Hurling training takes place every Sunday at Gavan Duffy Park from 12 noon to 1.30pm.