Fixtures: Thursday, May 15: Under-16 FL Division One v Corduff (Home) at 7.30pm

Friday, May 16: Under-14 FL Division One v Emyvale (Home) at 7.30pm

Saturday, May 17: Under-14 FL Division Five v Inniskeen (Home) at 1.30pm

Sunday, May 18: SFC v Clontibret in Castleblayney at 7.15pm; MHL Final Truagh v Cootehill at Gavan Duffy Park at 12pm

Wednesday, May 21: SFL v Truagh (Home) at 8pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 5, 11, 12 and 24. Jackpot of €1,500 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Briege Molloy c/o Liadhan Treanor; €40 Ciara O’Neill c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Brendan Donoghue c/o Ann Treanor; €40 Joe Corr c/o Cosy Bar. Jackpot for Sunday, May 18 is €1,600 and Monica and Paudge Connolly 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 9pm this Sunday – later time due to our SFC match.

 

Darkness into Light: The first ‘Darkness into Light’ 5k in Monaghan, raising money for suicide-awareness group Pieta House, attracted a crowd of over 700 to Gavan Duffy Park in the early hours of last Saturday morning. The work that had gone into preparing for the 5km walk/run was clear to see, as the event ran superbly and there was a great atmosphere throughout. The 5k route, prepared by Brian Peppard, started from our grounds, before going along the Canal Greenway, which was specially lit up for the occasion, and finishing back at the Harps complex just as dawn broke. Thanks to everyone who helped out in any way in the build-up and on the night/morning itself and to the many people who took part. Thanks also to David O’Rourke and Pizza D’Or for leaving in some very welcome pizzas in the wee hours!

 

U-10: The Monaghan Town Community Games Under-10 Gaelic Football team won the county final in some style in Cremartin on Monday evening. Carrickmacross, who had also impressed on their way to the final, scored a goal in an evenly-matched start and they made another couple of chances, but Monaghan goalkeeper Seán Callan made sure they found no way through, with the help of the likes of Patrick Duffy, Senan Cudden and Michael McMorrow. With players like Luke McManus, Eoin O’Hanlon and Oisín Reilly growing into the game, the Monaghan lads started to pull away and they eventually ran out 2-15 to 2-3 winners. Well done to the panel of Cian Bradley, Seán Callan, Dáire Conlon, Jordan Crampton, Senan Cudden, Patrick Duffy, Ross Finnegan, Fionán Ó Gallchóir, Scarlett Herron, Josh Kelly, Max Mallon, Luke McManus, Michael McMorrow, Eoin O’Hanlon, Oisín Reilly and Shea Swift and their management: Martin Sheridan, Finbarr Conlon, Mel McMorrow and Mary White.

 

Meetings: The rescheduled club meetings for May take place tonight (Thursday) in the clubhouse, with the juvenile meeting at 7, followed by the senior meeting at 8.

 

Seniors: Our senior footballers had a mixed week in the league, falling to a disappointing defeat at home to Clontibret last Wednesday, before returning to winning ways against Magheracloone in Inniskeen last Sunday. Having led by 0-7 to 0-5 at half-time, our lads fell behind after the restart, but they finished strongly, with a Nicholas Scott goal and a point by Brendan McQuaid making the final score 1-12 to 1-11 in our favour. We play Clontibret in the first round of the Senior Football Championship in Castleblayney this Sunday at 7.15pm, before returning to league action with a home game against Truagh at 8pm on Wednesday. Please support the lads!

 

Reserves: A very young McKeown Cup team, featuring 14 Under-21s in total, fell to another narrow defeat away to Clontibret last Saturday. Two points each by Éimhín Morahan and Francis Lynch and one by Brendan McQuaid got us off to a decent start, before Éimhín and Niall Greenan gave us a 0-7 to 0-4 half-time lead. Clontibret were quicker out of the blocks in the second half, scoring 1-2 in succession and although Conor McCaughey replied with a brace of well-struck ’45s, we failed to take a number of chances to get back into the game and a more clinical Clontibret team did enough to win by 1-10 to 0-9.

Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon; Dónal McCarthy, Turlough Clerkin; Conor Forde, Carl Foentjies, Conor Burns; Niall Treanor, James McKenna; Francis Lynch (0-2), Éimhín Morahan (0-3), Brendan McQuaid (0-1); Conor McCaughey (0-2, ‘45s), Niall Greenan (Capt., 0-1f).

Subs: Jason McHugh for Lynch, Séamus Brannigan for Burns, Marc Brennan for Clerkin.

 

Minors: Our minor footballers lost narrowly away to high-flying Donaghmoyne last Tuesday. We started slowly, but three points from Éimhín Morahan got us up and running and despite conceding a goal, we finished the half ahead by 2-3 to 1-5, thanks to two goals by Niall Duffy. Donaghmoyne were again quicker out of the blocks in the second half, but Dylan McKenna punched to the net midway through the half to kick-start our challenge again and Éimhín and Reece Treanor added points, but we fell just short on a 1-14 to 3-5 scoreline. We now have a long break and we wish all our players preparing for exams the best of luck.

Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon; Darragh Treanor, Tiarnán Bramley, Evan Cudden; Marc Brennan, Mustafa Gamal (Capt.), David Lowry; James McKenna, John Mulligan; Dylan McKenna (1-0), Éimhín Morahan (0-4, 2f), Kyle O’Leary; Reece Treanor (0-1f), Thomas Bourke, Niall Duffy (2-0).

Subs: David Carey for Bourke (H-T), Ramunas Ramanauskas for Brennan (38 mins).

 

U-16: Our Under-16 footballers have a home game against Corduff this evening (Thursday) at 7.30.

 

U-14: Our two Under-14 football teams have home league games this weekend, with the Division Five team playing Inniskeen at 1.30 on Saturday and the Division One team up against Emyvale at 7.30 on Friday – note fixture change.

 

U-12: We had two good wins in our Under-12 Football Spring League double-header at home to Finn Rua (Clones/Currin) last Saturday. First up was the Zone D game, where our lads gave a much-improved performance to get a first win under their belts.  Conor Treanor, Jamie Coyle, Scott Cooney and Jake Mulhall all got on the scoresheet, while at the other end Mark McManus, Ryan McSkeane and Deivydas defended well and Jamie Cooney moved out of goals to hit some nice scores in the second third.

Team and scorers: Jamie Cooney; Mark McManus, Ryan McSkeane (Capt.), Deivydas Kaklaskaus; Jake Mulhall (0-1); Scott Cooney (1-0), Jamie Coyle (1-1), Conor Treanor (1-3).

Sub used: Morgan Coyle.

The Zone C game was an entertaining one, where Eoghan McGinnity, Terence McDonald and Craig Cooney were on the scoresheet in the opening period to give our lads a good lead and they added to their tallies later on, while Adam McGarry grew into the game and Shay Cooney also found his range, while the hard-working Joshua Clerkin fired a shot into the top corner of the net. Our backs were again well organised, while the non-competitive third saw Daragh Croarkin move out of goals to join the list of scorers.

Team and scorers: Daragh Croarkin; Tiarnán O’Rourke, Liam Conway (Capt.); James McKenny, Nathan Lavery; Joshua Clerkin (1-0), Dylan Ballantine; Terence McDonald (0-4), Eoghan McGinnity (0-4); Craig Cooney (1-1), Adam McGarry (1-3).

Subs used: Shay Cooney (0-1), Deivydas Kaklaskaus, Jake Mulhall, Jamie Cooney.

 

Golf Classic: We are staging a golf classic in Rossmore Golf Club on June 27. All help, be it taking a team or offering sponsorship, would be much appreciated.

 

Hurling: Hard luck to the minor hurlers, who lost their league semi-final at home to Cootehill last Sunday. The Harps started well, with Conor Flynn and Ruairí Forde scoring early points, but Cootehill finished the half strongly to lead by 1-5 to 0-4 and they went on to win by 2-9 to 0-8.

Team: Aidan Burns; Cathal Power, Ben Kearns-Flynn; Kyle O’Leary, Ciarán McQuaid, David Lowry; Dylan McAree, Tiarnán Bramley; Reece Treanor, Ciarán Cassidy, Ruairí Forde; Liam Neeson, Conor Flynn.

Gavan Duffy Park is the venue for the final between Truagh and Cootehill this Sunday at 12 noon. All help welcome.

Goals by Conor Flynn and Brendan McQuaid helped the seniors finish the Development League with a 2-14 to 0-14 win at home to Carrickmacross last Thursday.