Fixtures: Saturday, October 19: SFL v Castleblayney (Away) at 4pm; MHC Final Replay Truagh Harps v Clontibret at 1.30pm in Scotstown

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 11, 19, 25 and 26. Jackpot of €2,200 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Monica Connolly c/o Paudge Connolly; €40 F O’Connor c/o Paudge Connolly; €40 Donncha Carey c/o senior footballers; €40 S Hegarty c/o Barry Sullivan. Jackpot for Sunday, October 20 is €2,300 and Dermot and Liz Brannigan are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

Seniors: Our senior footballers secured a league semi-final place with two games to spare through a comfortable win at home to an understrength Latton team on Saturday. Our lads made a bright start with points by Dónal Hahessy and Dean Fanning, who rattled the net in the ninth minute. We went on to waste a number of chances in the rest of the first half, but Dónal added three points to make the half-time score 1-5 to 0-3. Shane Smyth and Dean hit two points each in the third quarter, while Dónal and Ashley White were also on target. Shane Smyth then palmed to the net and points from Dónal and Shane Coyle made the final score 2-15 to 1-7. We wish Stephen Driver a speedy recovery from the ankle injury he suffered in the first half.

Team and scorers: Cónall McKenna; Gareth Treanor, Rónán Garvey, Niall Hahessy; Conor Galligan, Neil McAdam, Nicholas Scott; Stephen Driver, Gary White (Capt.); Dónal Hahessy (0-6, 3f), Ashley White (0-1), Michael Galligan; Liam Hahessy, Shane Smyth (1-2), Dean Fanning (1-5, 0-4f).

Subs: Peter Coyle for Driver (inj., 18 mins), Ronan McGann for McKenna, Conor McCaughey for L Hahessy, Shane Coyle (0-1) for Smyth, Dean McMahon for McAdam (all 47).

We are away to Castleblayney this Saturday at 4pm.

 

Minors: The Minor Football League Division One Final against Carrickmacross takes place on Saturday week (October 26). Venue not available at time of writing.

 

Draw: Ticket sellers in the ‘Sportspersons Dream’ draw are asked to return their tickets to their ‘team captains’ as soon as possible. Money raised in this draw goes towards the maintenance and development of facilities at Gavan Duffy Park and we greatly appreciate all support.

 

Blitzes: Our Under-15 footballers reached the semi-finals of the Eamonn McElroy/Benny Connolly tournament in Emyvale last Saturday. Our first group game against Éire Óg was declared a draw, before the Harps lads had a comfortable win over Seán McDermotts, with Conor Duffy and Michael Mulligan among the goal-scorers. The last game against Truagh would decide the group winners and it proved to be a close encounter. Remy McKenna got our only score of the first half, at the end of which Truagh led by 1-2 to 0-1, but with Paul Peppard finding the net twice and Michael Mulligan kicking a point, the gap was down to the minimum by the end (1-6 to 2-2), but our lads ran out of time. That meant the lads had to face a fresher Scotstown team in the semi-finals and having lost a couple of players (including Conor Duffy to an unfortunate facial injury), it proved a bridge too far. Thanks to our management of Michael O’Donoghue, Thomas McCabe and Ciarán Mulligan and the tournament organisers.

Panel: Aidan Burns, Seán McKenna, Niall McManus, Anthony Greenan, Thomas Croarkin, Cathal Power, Niall Ward, Remy McKenna, Paul Peppard, Nathan O’Donoghue, Conor Duffy, Michael Mulligan, Jack Deery, Ben Kearns-Flynn, James Bourke, Soky John, Dylan McAree.

Our Under-13s took part in a floodlit blitz in Cloghan last Thursday. Thanks to everyone involved.

 

Hurling:

U-13 Floodlit Blitz: Our U-13s competed in the second stage of their floodlit league on Monday evening in Cloghan. There were mixed fortunes for the team with both Blayney and Inniskeen starting strongly in the first two games, which led to them edging out victories in the end. However, it was the Harps’ turn to have a strong first half in the third game against Carrick, which led to a win for our lads. Well done to all involved.

Minor Championship: The Minor Hurling Championship Final between Truagh Harps and Clontibret proved to be a tight affair throughout, with the teams level at half-time and at the final whistle. Although Truagh Harps took the initial lead, it was Clontibret who were ahead for much of the game, helped by an early goal. Truagh Harps drew themselves level on a number of occasions, including grabbing a goal of their own late in the second half, right after they had conceded a second goal. However, they couldn’t get a decisive score to win the match, which finished 1-10 to 2-7. The replay takes place in Scotstown this Saturday at 1.30pm.

Sportsperson’s Dream: Club members are reminded that ticket stubs and payment for this fundraiser should be forwarded to James Greenan as soon as possible.

 

Ladies: Our senior team defeated Aughnamullen in the semi-final of the Division Two League last Sunday at Gavan Duffy Park. The team was: Allison Treanor, Dearbhla Lenehan, Laura McManus, Shauna Hetherington, Orla Whelan, Niamh Maguire, Gráinne Treanor, Jennifer Treanor, Yvonne Connell, Emma Clerkin, Eimear O’Rourke, Éadaoin Maguire, Una Rooney, Orla Callan, Sinéad Maguire (Capt.), Muireann O’Rourke, Aoife Corrigan, Tara Reilly, Tessa Fleming and Tiarna Lavelle. We now play Scotstown in the League Final this Saturday, October 19, at 6pm in Emyvale. Training for seniors continues on Tuesday and Friday at 7pm. In the Reserve League semi-final, we play Magheracloone.  This game has not yet been fixed.

Our remaining Minor Division One League fixture is against Scotstown. This game has not yet been fixed.

The €30 club tickets for the upkeep & maintenance of the facilities at Gavan Duffy Park have been distributed for sale amongst all club members. We request all Ladies Club players past & present, management, committee members and parents to support this fundraiser. The draw is fast approaching to everyone is reminded to put a final push on selling their allocation of tickets.

The ladies club extends their deepest sympathies to Rose McGirl, former senior team player, on the recent passing of her father.