Fixtures: Tuesday, March 27: MFL Division One v Scotstown (Home) at 6.30pm; Under-14 FL Division One v Truagh (Home) at 6.30pm

Saturday, March 31: Under-12 Spring League Zone B v Emyvale (Away) at 12pm; Under-12 Spring League Zone A v Emyvale (A) at 1.15pm

Sunday, April 1: RFL Division One v Tyholland (Away) at 2pm

Monday, April 2: Under-14 HL v Clontibret (Away) at 6.30pm

Tuesday, April 3: MFL Division One v Castleblayney (Away) at 6.45pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 5, 10, 12 and 25. Jackpot of €4,300 not won. Residual prizes €100 Austin Corrigan c/o Maria McKenna; €40 Alan Gleeson c/o Brian O’Sullivan (HC); €40: Peter Coyle c/o Fergus Coyle; €40 Mary Vance c/o John Harden. Jackpot for Sunday, April 1 is €4,450 and Maria and Hugh McKenna are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

Meetings: There will be a ground-development meeting this Saturday morning at 11 and a short Lotto meeting on Sunday night at 9.45, both in the clubhouse. All welcome.

 

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 – next up is this Friday, March 30 – and volunteers are needed, so tell Maria if you want to help out.

 

Seniors: The senior footballers had a useful run-out against a very strong Corofin side at Gavan Duffy Park last Sunday. We were defeated, but the match gave us an opportunity to take on the Galway champions and give a game to 20-plus players. Thanks to the Corofin lads for making the long journey. Our first SFL game is away to Scotstown on April 11.

 

Reserves: The Crawley Cup team had a one-point defeat at home to Éire Óg in the RFL Division Four last Sunday. We found the net three times through Niall and Finnian McKenna and Niall Greenan, but some missed chances cost us as Éire Óg edged the result by 2-9 to 3-5. We had a good turnout of players, so let’s keep the numbers up.

Team: Colin Harvey; Finnian McKenna, Michael Buckley; Johnny Sherry, Séamus Brannigan (Capt.), Niall Greenan; Niall McKenna, Robbie Moyna; Donal Cuddy, Gary Murray, Colm Shalvey; Darren McMahon, Adam Cullen. (Pat Murphy and Dessie McGarry came on to bring us up to 15 players).

Subs: Fionntán Cassidy for Shalvey, Stephen Clerkin for N McKenna, Thomas Keelaghan for F McKenna, Frankie McGarry for Cuddy, Niall Brannigan for Buckley.

The O’Duffy Cup team have an away game against Tyholland this Sunday at 2pm.

 

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 this Saturday in order to have full voting rights at AGMs. All players are reminded that they must be paid-up members of the club.

 

U-14: The Under-14 Division One football lost out to a strong Scotstown team in their first league game last Saturday and they have a home game against Truagh this evening (Tuesday) at 6.30.

 

Minors: The minor footballers play their first league game at home to Scotstown this evening (Tuesday) at 6.30. All support welcome. The lads are away to Castleblayney next Tuesday for a 6.45 throw-in.

 

U-16: The countdown is also on to the start of the season for the Under-16s on April 12. The lads had another good challenge match last Saturday morning.

 

U-12: The Under-12 Spring Leagues start this Saturday (March 31) in Emyvale. Our two Under-12 teams are in action, with the first game throwing in at 12 noon. Good luck to all involved.

 

Saturday mornings: Our Saturday-morning coaching resumed last Saturday and will continue each week from 10.30-11.30am.

 

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.

 

Sympathy: The club would like to extend its deepest sympathy to Fergus Coyle on the recent passing of his sister-in-law Joan Coyle, Limerick. Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis.

 

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: Well done to the Monaghan senior and minor hurlers on qualifying for their league finals last Saturday and to the minor footballers, who got off to a winning start. Good luck to all county teams again this weekend, particularly Colin McAree, Michael Galligan and the minor footballers, who play Armagh on Saturday.

Aido file: Congrats to Valerie and Seán McKenna who finally got rid of the first daughter! The big wedding went ahead at the weekend and best wishes to Denise and Joey in the future. Congrats also to Tommy who passed his exam last week and is now licensed to drive a computer… The hurling season has got underway with our Under-15s out in the floodlight league and competing well, with the senior league to start next week. Good luck to all our teams and players!

Handball: Hard luck to Terry McElvaney failed to land the Under-21 Singles All-Ireland title last Sunday when he lost over two games to a very fit and skilful Patrick Funchion from the Kells club in Kilkenny. There wasn’t much to choose between the two players in the first game which was quite close. Funchion easily took the second game as Terry wilted from the constant long rallies and superb killshots from the Kilkenny player. The scores were 21-13 and 21-8. Congratulations on a fine achievement in reaching the final. Next week, Terry gets another shot in the Under-21 Doubles final.
There was great news for our juvenile players who were involved in the Ulster Cumann na mBunscol competition. After several hours of play, all six Harps players had reached the finals. There was agonising defeat in the Under-13 doubles final when Justas and Cailean lost out to Tyrone in a third game decider. We had high hopes in the Under-11 Singles with Eoghan McGinnity in superb form. However, he came up against a very strong Lorcan McBride from Tyrone. The first game was won on the score of 11 to 3. Eoghan came so close to bringing the match to a decider when he played superbly to lead by 9 to 6. The Tyrone player eventually got back in to serve and won 11-9. Congratulations to Jakub Szkup and Konrad Koval who won the Under-11 Doubles final with an excellent performance against Tyrone. Konrad served magnificently and Jakub used his favourite passing shots to put the opposition under pressure. They won both games with ease. There was further delight for the travelling supporters when Ryan Mooney, who had been playing great handball in the earlier rounds, won the Under-13 Singles final with a two-game victory over Cavan. Ryan showed all his array of shots to dominate the final. Ryan, Jakub and Konrad will now represent Ulster at the National Handball Day in April.

Get well soon: Aidan Connell is out of hospital after giving everyone a scare recently. We hope to see you back in Rooskey soon, Ado!

 

Talk Sport for Shauna: A sports talk night will take place in the Hillgrove Hotel on Sunday, May 6, featuring top personalities in various codes. This event is to raise badly-needed funds for the treatment of a Scotstown girl, Shauna McPhillips, who has Rett syndrome. For more information, contact Peadar McMahon at 086 0443300.

 

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