Fixtures: Saturday, March 22: Under-14 FL Division One v Aughnamullen (Home) at 1.15pm; Under-14 FL Division Five v Carrickmacross (Away) at 12pm
Sunday, March 23: SFL v Scotstown (Away) at 4pm
Monday, March 24: Under-14 HC Q-F v Truagh (Home) at 5.30pm
Tuesday, March 25: MFL Division One v Scotstown (Away) at 5.45pm

Thanks: Monaghan Harps GAA Club appreciates and hugely welcomes the recent generous financial support provided by the Herron family – Colm, Audri and Scarlett – of the Hillgrove Hotel.

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 2, 14, 21 and 22. Jackpot of €4,300 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Kathleen Boyle c/o Seán Boyle; €40 F Donnelly c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Niall Ward c/o Jim Dalton (Hurling Club); €40 Michelle McElvaney c/o Paddy Donnelly. Jackpot for Sunday, March 23 is €4,400 and Rose Hughes and Noel Hennessy 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. Please note that tickets can be brought down to the clubhouse from 7.45pm on Sundays.

Family Fortunes: We staged our ‘Family Fortunes’ night in the clubhouse last Sunday. Our four teams, representing the different sections of the club, were as follows: ‘The Waltons’, aka Pat Murphy, Jimmy Croarkin, Conor McCaughey and Dean McMahon; ‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys’ aka Mary White, Brian Toal, Mel McMorrow and Dermot Coyle; ‘The Kardashians’ aka Allison and Gráinne Treanor, Yvonne Connell and Una Rooney; and ‘The Brady Bunch’ aka Damien Morgan, Conor McDonnell, Martin McEntee and Ryan O’Neill. ‘The Waltons’ and ‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys’ qualified for the final, where a controversial finish saw ‘the Waltons’ snatch victory by a narrow margin, after a steward’s inquiry! Thanks to MC Una Forde, Liadhan, Mary and everyone involved in organising the night.

Seniors: We start the Senior Football League with a local derby away to county champions Scotstown on Sunday at 4pm. Get out and support!

Reserves: A youthful McKeown Cup team, featuring ten Under-21s, fell to a narrow defeat in a well-contested league game at home to Blackhill last Sunday. Despite conceding the opening two points, we got back on level terms with points by David Loughran and Niall Greenan, before David fired home what would be the only goal of the game. Niall added a brace of points and Gerard Gilsenan also got on the scoresheet and although Blackhill rallied before half-time, we went in leading narrowly by 1-5 to 0-7. Playing against the wind in the second half, we conceded the first two points, but a well-taken brace by Conor Forde kept us in touch and sub Dessie McGarry brought us level late on, only for two late points to win it for the visitors on a scoreline of 0-13 to 1-8. Our next game is at home to Killanny on April 6, while the O’Duffy Cup team are away to Truagh on Sunday week (March 30).
Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon; Dónal McCarthy, Darren McMahon; Turlough Clerkin, Carl Foentjies, Conor Burns; Philip Drohan, Niall Treanor; Conor Forde (0-2), Niall Greenan (Capt., 0-3, 1f), Francis Lynch; David Loughran (1-1), Gerard Gilsenan (0-1).
Subs: Dessie McGarry (0-1) for Loughran, Ahmed Gamal for Lynch, Paul Smyth for Greenan, John McCoy for Gilsenan, Éimhín Morahan for Drohan.
We presented the 2013 RFC Division Three medals in the clubhouse on Sunday night. Player/manager Pat Murphy presented a framed photo of the team to the club, while special presentations also went to manager Jimmy Croarkin, captain and Player of the Year Gerard Gilsenan and championship final Man of the Match Stephen Driver.

Minors: The Minor Football League begins next Tuesday, when we are away to Scotstown with a 5.45pm throw-in. All support welcome.

U-14: Our Under-14 Division One footballers are at home to Aughnamullen this Saturday, while the Division Five team are away to Carrickmacross.

U-12: The Under-12 Football Spring League started with a double-header away to Scotstown last Saturday. The first game saw a very young second team compete very well in an evenly-matched encounter. The Harps had most of the play in the opening period, with Scott Cooney and Conor Treanor kicking good points and Mark McManus consistently driving the team forward and although the lads struggled to play into a strong wind after the restart, there were still encouraging performances all over the pitch.
Team: Ryan Myles; Diarmuid McGee, James Curley, Mark McManus; Ben Myers, Evan Meehan; Scott Cooney, Conor Treanor, Dean Conlon.
Subs used: Caolán McKenna, Nathan Boylan.
The second match saw our first team line out without several players, forcing a number of positional switches, but that didn’t stop them putting in an excellent performance. Despite playing against the wind in the first third, our lads played very well, with Liam Conway excellent in the full-back line. The Harps pushed on with the wind at their backs, with Eoghan McGinnity, Adam McGarry, Shay Cooney and Jamie Coyle leading the scoring to get the spring league off to a winning start in style.
Team: Darragh Croarkin; Che Treanor, Liam Conway; Josh Maguire, Dean Doherty; Craig Cooney (Capt.), Eoghan McGinnity; Shay Cooney, Adam McGarry; Jamie Coyle, Brian McAteer.
Sub used: Conor Myles.

St. Patrick’s Day: Well done to everyone who took part in the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Monday and all who played music and entertained the crowd in the clubhouse afterwards. There was a great attendance of families and all ages in the crowd, representing the club in a very positive way.

Membership: Membership fees for 2014 can now be paid to Maurice Galligan, who is standing in for Dermot Coyle for the time being. 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. Members must be paid up by the end of this month to have voting rights at our AGM and players must have fees paid to be covered for insurance.

Garda vetting: In keeping with best practice and child protection legislation, it is important that everyone involved in the club committee, coaching etc. completes a Garda vetting form. Children’s Officer Tommy McCabe is now completing an up-to-date audit of successfully vetted club personnel. If you have a certificate, please provide Tommy with a photocopy and if you need a vetting form, you can contact him at 087 7635891.

Fixtures: The start dates for the juvenile competitions yet to begin are as follows: Under-16 football: April 3; Under-12 hurling: June 2; Under-14 hurling: March 24; Under-16 hurling: June 23. Full club fixtures are now on our website.

Get fit: Circuit training with All-Ireland winner Ronan Clarke takes place in the clubhouse each Wednesday and Friday evening. Cost €5 per session.

Coaching: We are hosting a foundation coaching course and child protection course this Friday and Saturday (March 21 & 22). We hope to have a separate child-protection course on Friday, April 4; see next week’s notes for confirmation. The Saturday-morning sessions for Under-10s are due to start up again on Saturday, April 5 with the annual registration day.

Good luck: To Mustafa Gamal and the Monaghan minor footballers, who start the Ulster league against Down in Clones on Saturday.

Votes of sympathy: At last Thursday’s club meeting, votes of sympathy were passed to the families of Peadar Murnane and Aidan Cuddy.

Gaeltacht scholarships: Interviews for Gaeltacht scholarships for Coláiste Bhríde, Rann na Feirste will be held in the GAA centre, Cloghan on Saturday, April 5, starting at 9.30am for Junior Cert students and 11am for Leaving Cert students. There is no pre-booking necessary.

ASAP: Thanks to Martin Sheridan and everyone involved in developing the club’s ASAP (Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention) policy, which was presented at last Thursday’s meeting.

Darkness into Light: We are helping a very worthy charity, suicide-awareness group Pieta House, to bring their annual ‘Darkness into Light’ walk/run in Monaghan in the early morning of Saturday, May 10. More information will be in the club notes, website and social media as the date draws closer.

Hurling: The senior hurlers lost out to Clontibret in their opening Development League game last Saturday, while the Under-14s host Truagh on Monday evening.

Ladies: Our first Senior League game of the year resulted in a great 1-10 to 2-3 win at home to Donaghmoyne B. The cobwebs were well and truly blown off and good scoring chances were created throughout the game. Start as we mean to go on! The team was captained by Tessa Fleming and lined out as follows: Allison Treanor, Dearbhla Lenehan, Hannah Clerkin, Shauna Hetherington, Gráinne Treanor, Tessa Fleming, Jennifer Treanor, Muireann O’Rourke, Tiarna Lavelle, Emma Clerkin, Eimear O’Rourke, Sinéad Maguire, Maria Ferguson, Donna Marie Morgan, and Niamh Maguire
Training continues this week in Rooskey. Be on the field and ready to play for 7pm. We know now from the game what we need to start working on!
Only four weeks left until registration cover is finished for the year. This MUST be paid to play/train and MUST be in with team managements before this date. Amounts are: Over-18s €56, U18-U12 €41, U-10 €26, and non-playing members €31
On Sunday night the Ladies Club were represented by Allison, Yvonne, Rooney and Gráinne in the Family Fortunes held in the clubhouse. Despite some intensive training sessions and buzzer-practice at home, the girls unfortunately were knocked out in the opening round. Although the defeat was a heart-breaking one they did win some beautiful headwear and did the Ladies Club proud. Thanks also to the support from the Ladies Club members who attended on the night. It was great to get the vocal back-up!

Handball: Congratulations to Conor McDonnell, Monaghan Harps and Paul Cassidy Tydavnet on reaching the All-Ireland Final in the Golden Masters Doubles. They won their All-Ireland semi-final in Tinrykand, Carlow against Wexford opponents: 21-8 in the third game. Details of the Final, against Mayo opposition, will be posted when available
Justas Dambinskas was defeated in the All-Ireland Semi-Final of the Boys U-14 Singles by Ciarán Cooney, Kilkenny. It was very disappointing for Justas, with the wait from midday until 6pm not helping his cause. Nonetheless, this young Harps player has won an Ulster Singles Winners Grade title, a magnificent achievement. Well done Justas and keep up the good work.
Congratulations to Monaghan Harps Handball Club member Austin McKenna, who has been appointed as the New Fixtures & Events Officer for GAA Handball. Austin has done Trojan work for Handball as Ulster Administrator and prior to that he was Monaghan County Secretary. Austin has worked tirelessly for the good of handball, and the Club would like to wish him well in his new role.