Fixtures: Saturday, March 24: Under-14 FL Division One v Scotstown (Home) at 12pm

Sunday, March 25: RFL Division Four v Éire Óg (Home) at 12pm

Tuesday, March 27: MFL Division One v Scotstown (Home) at 6.30pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 4, 6, 26 and 27. Jackpot of €4,150 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Anna McCormack c/o Paul Connolly; €40 Dáire McKenna c/o Joe Finlay (Hurling Club);€40 Jimmy McManus c/o Kitty McManus (Ladies Club); €40 Mary Bramley c/o Mick Farrell. Jackpot for Sunday, March 25 is €4,300 and Mary and Fergus Coyle are on duty.

 

Lotto meeting: The Lotto committee meeting of 2012 takes place in the clubhouse this Sunday (March 25) at 9.30pm.

 

Get involved: The Monaghan Harps Lotto plays an integral part in the running of the club and we greatly appreciate the efforts of all ticket-sellers. If anyone would like to get involved with the lotto, they can contact Maria McKenna at 086 1057725. We have a number of dates coming up in the next few months in the shopping centre (starting this Friday, March 16) and volunteers are needed, so tell Maria if you want to help out.

 

Reserves: The O’Duffy Cup team got a walkover from Castleblayney in last Sunday’s RFL Division One game. The Crawley Cup team have a home game against Éire Óg this Sunday at 12 noon.

Juvenile presentation: The club’s juvenile presentation night took place last Friday in the clubhouse. With medals to be presented to two Under-12 football teams, the Under-14 footballers, the Under-16 footballers and Under-12 and Under-14 hurlers, there was plenty to get through but the event ran very smoothly. Club chairman Dermot Brannigan and juvenile chairman Séamus McManus welcomed everyone and they both had words of encouragement for our stars of the future, as did senior footballer Stephen Driver, who presented the medals. The players were all introduced by their managers – Michael O’Donoghue, Chris Conway, Brendan Burns, Brian Lenehan and Jim Dalton – and some of the young lads went home with pockets full of medals between the two codes, not least Aiden Burns, who took home five! Well done to everyone who received a medal (or medals) and everyone involved in organising the presentation. Thanks to Christy Lappin for taking photos on the night (see elsewhere).

 

St. Patrick’s Day: Thanks to everyone who attended and took part in the St. Patrick’s Day parade on behalf of the club last Saturday. Thanks also to everyone who came back to the clubhouse afterwards and the musicians who kept the crowd entertained.

 

Membership: Membership for 2012 is now due and can be paid to registrar Maurice Galligan c/o Cosy Bar or in the clubhouse. Fees are €20 per adult, €10 per child or €50 for a family of two adults and any number of children. Supporters are asked to pay their subscription as soon as possible, as GAA rules dictate that membership must be paid by the end of March in order to have full voting rights at AGMs. All players are reminded that they must be paid-up members of the club. Registration can also be paid at the juvenile presentation night.

 

U-14: The Under-14 Division One football team start their league campaign this Saturday with a home game against Scotstown at 12 noon. Good luck to Michael O’Donoghue, Thomas McCabe and the team. All support welcome.

 

Minors/U-16s: The countdown is also on to the start of the season for the minors (who start with a home game against Scotstown next Tuesday, March 27) and the Under-16s on April 12.

 

U-12: The Under-12 Spring Leagues start on Saturday week (March 31) with away games in Emyvale.

 

Saturday mornings: Our Saturday-morning coaching resumes this Saturday (March 24) from 10.30-11.30.

 

Referees: Monaghan Coaching and Games Committee are recruiting Go Games referees for the coming year. Each referee will receive €15 per blitz. Referees must be aged between 14 and 18 years. We need new club referees to ease the burden on Hugh, so this could be a good chance to get started. Contact any committee member if interested.

 

Easter Camps: Monaghan GAA are running a three-day Easter Camp in Scotstown on April 10/11/12 from 10.30am to 2.30pm. The cost is €40 for the first child and €35 for additional children from the same family, targeting boys and girls aged five to ten (if older children want to attend please contact Paul O’Connor). For further information contact Paul O’Connor @ developmentmanager.monaghan@gaa.ie or at 0868374827 or on the county website; www.monaghangaa.ie.

 

County teams: Good luck to the county senior football and hurling teams in Sunday’s National League games. Best of luck in particular to Colin McAree and the county minors, who play their first competitive game of the year against Down in Clones on Saturday and the Under-21 footballers who play Derry in the Ulster championship tomorrow night (Wednesday) at Celtic Park.

 

Handball: Best wishes to All-Ireland Under-21 Singles finalist Terry McElvaney who takes on Kilkenny’s Patrick Funchion in Curraghboy, Co Roscommon on Sunday at 2pm. The Harps player is in tremendous form at present and although he is suffering from a bone bruise, hopefully this will not affect his performance in the final. We have six of our juvenile players involved on Saturday in Gort na Móna, Belfast, in the Ulster finals of the Cumann na mBunscol competition. Good luck to Caileán, Justas, Ryan, Eoghan, Jakub and Konrad. For the latter three players, this is their first time to reach this stage of the competition. All have been putting in extra practice before Saturday. Most of these players are also involved in the Community Games Ulster finals which will be held in Letterkenny in April.

 

Aido file: Happy birthday to Nathan O’Donoghue and Dylan McAree who both celebrated the big day last week. In the same week the lads collected their medals from last year’s success in the Under-12 and Under-14 grades at the juvenile awards night. Any senior members not yet to pay membership please contact Ross Murray.

 

Gaeltacht scholarships: Interviews for Gaeltacht Scholarships will take place in the Enterprise Centre, Castleblayney on Saturday, April 21, beginning at 10am. These are half scholarships and are available for students in the 14-to-17 age bracket. There is no need to book in advance, if you need further information email: irishculturalofficer.monaghan@gaa.ie