Fixture: Sunday, March 11: RFL Division Four v Killanny (Away) at 12pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 3, 11, 12 and 15. Jackpot of €3,850 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Siobhán Douglas c/o Mick Farrell; €40 Terry Gilsenan c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Leah Reilly c/o Ladies Club; €40 Grace McConnon c/o Philomena Hughes. Jackpot for Sunday, March 11 is €4,000. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome. Seán and Kathleen Boyle and Tessie Connolly are on duty this week. A Lotto-committee meeting has been fixed for Sunday, March 25 in the clubhouse.

 

Meetings: The club’s monthly meeting for March takes place this Thursday in the clubhouse at 8pm, preceded by the juvenile meeting at 7. All members welcome. The Lotto committee are meeting on March 25.

 

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 and volunteers are needed, so tell Maria if you want to help out.

Reserves: The O’Duffy Cup team were unfortunate to fall to a narrow defeat away to Scotstown in the RFL Division One first round last Sunday. We had the better of the first half, with Niall and Liam Hahessy, Paddy Connolly, Gary White and Nicholas Treanor kicking some good scores, but we let in two fairly soft goals to allow Scotstown take a 2-3 to 0-7 lead in at half-time. The free-taking of Gary and Nicholas kept us well in contention in the second half and even though we conceded a third goal, we still stayed in the game right to the end and had the gap down to two points, but a couple of late chances went untaken and we left empty-handed. Our next game is at home to Castleblayney on March 18.

Team and scorers: Conall McKenna; Niall McKenna, Paddy Kelly, Conor Devlin; Robbie Moyna, Paul Rushe, Niall Greenan; Gary White (Capt., 0-3, 2f), Paddy Connolly (0-2); Pat Murphy, Nicholas Treanor (0-4f), Niall Hahessy (0-2); David Loughran, Liam Hahessy (0-2), Paul Kelly.

Sub: Ronan Garvey for Paddy Kelly.

The Crawley Cup team start their RFL Division Four campaign away to Killanny this Sunday at 12 noon.

 

U-14: Training for both Under-14 football teams has started and is on every Saturday between 12 noon and 1.15pm and every Wednesday from 7-8.15pm. All eligible players are welcome to attend.

 

White-collar boxing: Plans are underway to stage a white-collar boxing tournament on Friday, April 20. Keep an eye on the club notes and website for more details.

 

Club Officer training: Monaghan Club Officer Training takes place in St. Macartan’s College this Saturday, March 10 between 9.30am and 1pm. It will feature events that focus on the role of the club chairman, secretary, treasurer and PRO as well as discussion on various other topics. There is a particular emphasis on the promotion of the GAA club advice manual, which is a resource that provides information for club officers on all aspects of club activity.

 

Defibrillator training: Thanks and well done to everyone who took part in the CPR and AED training last Saturday morning. Thanks also to our instructors who were very helpful and informative and to Brendan Buckley and Liadhan for organising the training.

 

Juvenile presentation: Our juvenile presentation night has been fixed for Friday week, March 16 in the clubhouse at 7.30pm. All club members and players from last year’s winning teams are asked to keep this date free.

 

Membership: Membership for 2012 can now 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 on March 16.

 

Important dates: The Hurling Club are staging a table quiz in Tír na nÓg this Friday. The Senior Football League will start with a short trip to Scotstown on Wednesday, April 11. Our Saturday-morning juvenile coaching will restart on Saturday, March 24. On the same day, our two Under-14s play their first league games, while the Under-12 Spring Leagues start on March 31. The first game of the Minor Football League is at home to Scotstown on March 27. Our Under-16 footballers will start their Division One League campaign away to Killanny on Thursday, April 12.

 

Coaching Courses: Anyone who wants to take part in a Foundations Coaching Course on March 23/24 can contact Juvenile Club Secretary Val Forde at 087 9515175.

 

Sympathy: We extend sympathy on behalf of the club to the O’Donoghue family on the death of Liam O’Donoghue, Glaslough Street. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

 

Good luck: To the Monaghan senior footballers against Louth in the NFL this weekend.

 

Well done: To Liam Hahessy, who won an All-Ireland Freshers B Championship medal with DCU last week.

 

Aido file: All club members and supporters are reminded of the table quiz organised for this Friday, March 9, in Tír na nÓg. Each table costs €20 and starting time is 8pm. The club would like to send its condolences to the O’Donoghue family following their recent bereavement. Our thoughts are with you.

 

Handball: Congratulations to our new All-Ireland finalist Terry McElvaney who defeated Mayo’s Ian McLoughlin over two games on the scores of 21-13, 21-18. Despite playing with a leg injury, Terry won the Under-21 singles with superior serves and two-handed kill shots. It has been a great season for the Harps player, having just returned from the USA, where he competed in the Collegiate competition. In fact he surprised many by beating the American number two player while representing DCU. Terry is still involved in the U-21 Doubles All-Ireland semi-finals. Conor McDonnell just failed to reach the Golden Masters B final when he lost to Mayo’s Denis Phelan. This was a very close contest with Conor easily winning the first game 21-5 and just failing to win the second game on the scores of 21-17. He had another opportunity in the third while leading 17-13 but it was not to be as Phelan’s lob serves made the difference and the match ended 21-17. Congratulations to Justas Dambinskas and Jakub Szkup on winning the County Under-12 Doubles. In a high-quality final, they just beat their fellow Harps players Eoghan McGinnity and Conor Myles in three games. The scores were 12-15, 15-1, 15-4. Justas and Eoghan are partnered together in the Under-12 Doubles Ulster finals on Sunday. Well done to Under-15 players Ciarán Cassidy and Patrick Sikora on reaching the County final last week. Best of luck to our other Ulster juvenile finalists in Kingscourt.

  

Rith: Rith 2012 is a national run that will be coming through the county this Saturday, March 10, as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge. The run will come into Baile Mhuineacháin at 7.30 with a lap around the town and finish at the courthouse with a welcome from the County Council Cathaoirleach. We intend to take part in the Monaghan town leg of the run.