Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 4, 6, 17 and 23. Jackpot of €3,500 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Ollie Cawley c/o Joe Finlay (Hurling Club); €40 Monica Connolly c/o herself; €40 Daithí Clifford c/o Barry Sullivan; €40 Sonphan Ritthaisong c/o Dermot Coyle. Jackpot for Sunday, January 26 is €3,600 and Ann and Kevin Treanor are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome. The Lotto plays an essential part in the running of the club and we ask for everyone’s continued support.

 

Chairman: Welcome to our new club chairman Seán McKenna, who was ratified at a reconvened meeting last Thursday. Seán brings a wealth of experience to the club, having held key positions on the county board in recent years, including four as secretary. Congratulations to Seán’s daughter Denise and her husband Joey on the birth of baby Hannah! Thanks again to Dermot Brannigan who leaves the position of chairman after five years.

 

Scór: The Ulster Scór na nÓg finals take place in Silverbridge this Saturday, January 25 at 7pm, with Monaghan Harps to be represented in Léiriú. This is a first Ulster final appearance for the club in Scór and we encourage anyone who can make it go along and support. Ádh mór sibh!

 

Charity match: Any outstanding sponsorship forms and money from our annual Christmas charity match should be returned to Owen Connell, Mary White, Theresa McCaughey, Liadhan Treanor or the clubhouse as soon as possible. All money raised will go to local charities.

 

Membership: Membership fees for 2014 can now be paid to registrar Dermot Coyle, treasurer John Harden or in the clubhouse. Fees for 2014 are being maintained as follows: €20 per adult, €10 per child or €50 for a family of two adults and any number of children.

 

Awards night: The annual Monaghan GAA awards night took place last Saturday in the Hillgrove Hotel, with the club receiving presentations for Youth Achievement in hurling, Handballer of the Year (Terry McElvaney) and Youth Referee (Pauric Coyle). Congratulations to all involved. Our own juvenile presentation night is due to take place on February 28.

 

Coaching courses: Anyone interested in doing a foundation coaching course or doing/renewing the child protection course on March 21/22 is asked to contact Una Forde on 087 6107329. There are a number of other coaching courses taking place in the coming months. See Monaghan GAA website or contact Val or Una for more details.

 

Arch Club: We are delighted to once again welcome Monaghan Arch Club to Gavan Duffy Park on Thursday, February 6 from 8pm to 10pm. Members are asked to keep this evening free if possible.

 

Votes of sympathy: At the club’s January meeting, votes of sympathy were passed to the families of Michael Buckley’s grandfather, Peter Brannigan; Mary Lenehan’s father, Patrick McDermott; Jimmy McKenna and Gerry Curley’s mother. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.

 

New rules: It is compulsory from January 1, 2014 for all adult players to wear a mouth guard at both training and matches. All players and mentors are asked to take note. The new playing rules are also now in effect: see online for full details.

 

Ladies notes: The first Monaghan Harps Ladies Committee meeting of the year was held in McElvaney’s Bar last Thursday. A fundraising card was issued to the club from the County Board which must be completed by January 31, consisting of 50 x €2 lines.

JT and Maco kindly agreed to complete the task of producing the post-training soup for the county team on behalf of Monaghan Harps and will be doing so for this week’s training. Thank you very much to the two girls for doing this on behalf of the club. Rachel Allen and Mary Berry are probably quaking in their boots!

Our Christmas Hamper Draw was completed and the lucky name picked from the hat was Mickey Morgan. Congrats Mickey! This hamper was from the iPhone covers/mugs drive which is still ongoing, and you can get your iPhone 4/5 cover or your county mug from any of the Harps Ladies Committee…the mug holds the perfect amount of tea!

All committee members were reminded that gumshields are now compulsory for all players up to and including minor level both in training and in matches. Even underage players playing at senior level must be wearing these, and will be asked to leave the field if not. Any ‘backchat’ given to referees in relation to same is punishable by yellow card.

An update of underage management was given. Regarding U-12s and U-14s Donna-Marie Morgan agreed to assist Sinéad Maguire in helping out with training but no manager has been appointed to either role yet. Approaches will be made and replies will be reported back to the committee at the next meeting. In relation to U-16 and Minor, management was clarified as Gerard Clerkin, Catherine Clerkin and John Hetherington. Training for these are likely to be Saturdays but will be clarified at the next meeting.

A recruitment drive is to be completed in local primary schools including Gaelscoil Ultain, St. Louis Primary School, Monaghan Model School, and Ardaghey. This will involve flyer distribution and coaching in some cases which will be co-ordinated by JT. Harps college students are asked to assist with same to help identify wee Harps superstars of the future.

Senior training was noted as likely on Tuesdays at 7pm and Fridays at 8pm once the season starts on February 4.

2014 registration for all age groups can now be collected by all managements and forwarded to Allison. Registration for 2014 is: Senior €55, under-18/16/14 €40, under-10 €25 and non-playing members €30. Hope to see ye getting these in good and early in 2014…start as we mean to go on.