Fixtures: Tuesday, April 3: MFL Division One v Castleblayney in * Toome * at 6.45pm

Thursday, April 5: Development HL v Knocks (Away) at 7pm

Saturday, April 7: RFL Division One v Magheracloone (Home) at 5.30pm

Under-14 FC Division One v Emyvale (Away) at 12pm

Monday, April 9: Under-14 HL v Inniskeen (Home) at 7pm

Tuesday, April 10: MFL Division One v Killanny (Away) at 7pm

Wednesday, April 11: SFL v Scotstown (Away) at 7pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 5, 7, 19 and 23. Jackpot of €4,450 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Siobhán Douglas c/o Mick Farrell; €40 Shauna O’Sullivan c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club); €40 Marie Farrell c/o Philomena Hughes; €40 Anna Lawlor c/o Brian O’Sullivan (HC). Jackpot for Sunday, April 8 is €4,600. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

Seniors: The senior footballers play their first SFL game of 2012 away to neighbours Scotstown next Wednesday, April 11 at 7pm. Good luck to Mick McCormack, Ciarán Mulligan and Colin Harvey and the players. This is the start of a demanding run of games to start the league and all support would be appreciated.

 

Reserves: The O’Duffy Cup team had a five-point win away to Tyholland in the RFL Division One last Sunday. A Niall Hahessy goal and the accuracy from frees of Nicholas Treanor and Gary White had us ahead by 1-5 to 0-4 at half-time and we saw the game out to win by 1-13 to 0-11, with Niall and Liam Hahessy, Nicholas and Gary getting our second-half points. We are at home to Magheracloone this Saturday at 5.30 – please note earlier throw-in time.

Team and scorers: Conall McKenna; Niall Greenan, Niall McKenna, Conor Devlin; Paddy Kelly, Gareth Treanor, Paul Rushe; Robbie Moyna, Gary White (Capt., 0-3f); Paul Kelly, Nicholas Treanor (0-5f), Pat Murphy; David Loughran, Niall Hahessy (1-2), Liam Hahessy (0-3).

Subs: Gary Murray for Paul Kelly, Séamus Brannigan for Paddy Kelly (inj.), Finnian McKenna for Murphy, Colm Shalvey for Loughran, Adam Cullen for L Hahessy.

 

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

 

U-14: The Under-14 Division One football lost out Truagh in a high-scoring game at Gavan Duffy Park last Tuesday. The lads are away to Emyvale in the first round of the championship this Saturday at 12 noon. Best of luck to Michael O’Donoghue, Thomas McCabe and the team.

 

Minors: The minor footballers lost their first league game at home to a strong Scotstown side last Tuesday on a scoreline of 1-16 to 0-8. The lads play Castleblayney this evening (Tuesday) in Toome at 6.45 and are away to Killanny next Tuesday.

 

U-16: The Under-16 footballers start their league campaign with an away game in Killanny on Thursday week (April 12).

 

U-12: Both of our Under-12 teams started the Spring League last Saturday last with games away to Emyvale. Played in ideal conditions, supporters of both clubs were treated to some great football. The first team started brightly with early scores from Oisín Power and Seán Conway to send Harps into the lead, but a strong midfield performance from Emyvale soon got to grips with the game. Conor McCrystal and Oisín Power kept the scoreboard ticking over for Harps but it was thanks to a man-of-the-match defensive performance from Colin Peppard and good goalkeeping skills from Dáire Martin that we trailed by only one score at half-time. Harps started sprightly again in the second half with further scores from Sean, Conor and Killian McAdam and three points from Corey McArdle but Emyvale finished the stronger, with the Harps holding on for the draw. Team: Dáire, Colin, Killian C, Lorcan, Stephen, Conor, Seán, Oisín, Dylan, Corey, Shane, Killian McA, Adam, Nealis. The second team was a different story, with the Harps dominating the game in all quarters. Superb defending by Lochlainn Power and strong attacking from ‘Ógie’ Duffy, Luke Coyle and Josh Maguire were too much for Emyvale. The surprise of the day, however, was the commanding performance from new club member Hubert who gave a tremendous display of long kicking with scores from almost impossible angles and distance. All the best to both teams for the rest of the league. The next games for both teams are at home to Scotstown on Saturday week (April 14).

 

Saturday mornings: Our Saturday-morning coaching sessions are back in the swing of things 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.

 

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 visit the county website: www.monaghangaa.ie.

 

County teams: Good luck to the county senior footballers who play Tyrone, the minor hurlers who play Tyrone in the Ulster MHL Division Two Final (both games in Omagh on Sunday) and the minor footballers who take on Cavan in Clones on Saturday.

Aido file: Best of luck to our senior hurlers in the opening game of the season. Our lads travel to Knocks Grattans of Fermanagh this Thursday, meeting at 6 in Rooskey for all players. The Under-14s are currently playing the floodlit league every Monday evening and all support is welcome on the night. Our Under-12s also got their first two points of the year on Monday past, well done to the wee fellas. Keep off the Easter eggs this weekend too lads!

Handball: For the second weekend in a row Terry McElvaney reached an All-Ireland Under-21 Final. On this occasion, Terry and his St. Mellan’s partner, Christopher McKenna, were competing in the Doubles final against Kilkenny opposition. This was a hard-luck story for the Monaghan players as they lost over two very close games. The scores 21-16, 21-20 reflect how unlucky Terry and Christopher were. The match looked destined to go to a tiebreak but this was not to be. Indeed, Monaghan had a good lead in the first game but the singles champion Patrick Funchion was not to be beaten.
There was great news at juvenile level when Ryan Mooney played his best handball this season and defeated the highly-skilled Tyrone youngster Turlough Clarke to win the Ulster Under-13 Singles. The scores were 15-14 and 15-9.

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