Fixtures: Friday, April 24: MFL Division One v Seán McDermotts (Away) at 6.30pm

Saturday, April 25: Under-14 FL Division Four v Tyholland (Away) at 2pm

Sunday, April 26: SFL v Truagh (Away) at 3pm; MHL v Carrickmacross (Home) at 12pm

Monday, April 27: U-12 HL v Keady (Home) at 6.15pm; U-16 HL v Lisbellaw (Home) at 7.30pm

Tuesday, April 28: MFL Division One v St. Patrick’s (Away) * in Drumhowan at 7.30pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 5, 12, 18 and 23. Jackpot of €1,900 not won. Residual prizes: €100: Brian McNeill c/o Séamus Treanor; €40 Eoin McKeown c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club); €40 Janie Rushe c/o Ann Treanor; €40 Jimmy Morgan c/o Eileen Morgan. Jackpot for Sunday, April 26 is €2,000 and Dermot and Liz Brannigan are on duty. Plans are underway for our Lotto to celebrate its 21^st birthday on the May Bank Holiday Sunday night (May 3). All welcome.

 

Quiz: We are hosting a table quiz in the clubhouse this Friday (April 24) at 9.30pm. All support appreciated for what is sure to be an enjoyable night.

 

Lotto: The Harps Lotto is celebrating its 21^st anniversary, which will be marked by a party in the clubhouse on the May Bank Holiday Sunday night. The Lotto has been an integral part of the club’s fundraising for over two decades and we invite all current and former promoters, supporters and winners to join us on May 3 at 9.30pm for a night of ceol agus craic.

 

Seniors: Our senior footballers drew with Ballybay in the league last Saturday. Points by Dónal Hahessy, Fearghal McMahon, Nicholas Treanor, Dean Fanning and Aodhán Óg McAnespie had us ahead throughout the first half, at the end of which we led by 0-7 to 0-4. Our lads led for much of the second half also, with Dónal, Gareth Treanor and Fearghal on target, but Ballybay scored the only goal to draw the game on a 1-9 to 0-12 scoreline.

Team and scorers: Ashley White; Mustafa Gamal, Gareth Treanor (0-1), Kevin Loughran; Nicholas Scott, Conor Galligan (Capt.), Michael Galligan; Stephen Driver, Aodhán Óg McAnespie (0-1); Niall Greenan, Nicholas Treanor (0-2f), Dean Fanning (0-1); Niall Hahessy, Dónal Hahessy (0-5, 1f), Fearghal McMahon (0-2).

Subs: Éimhín Morahan for Greenan (inj., 42 mins), John Mulligan for Fanning (60).

We have Castleblayney at home tomorrow night (Wednesday), before going to Truagh this Sunday.

 

Darkness into Light: We are preparing to host the second Darkness into Light Monaghan 5km walk/run in the early morning of Saturday, May 9, with online registration currently available and registration nights also to take place in the clubhouse and hopefully in the shopping centre in the previous week. We welcomed a good crowd and a number of guest speakers to our clubhouse for the launch night of the Monaghan and Cavan events last Thursday evening. Thanks to everyone who helped out. We will also be hosting pre-registration nights on May 5 & 6, as well as helping in the Shopping Centre on May 1 & 2. We have another committee meeting tonight (Tuesday) at 9.30pm.

 

Blitz: We welcomed a huge crowd of young players from Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Cremartin and our own club to Gavan Duffy Park for a double blitz in perfect conditions last Saturday. Thanks to Gerry and Deborah Lynch and everyone involved in organising the morning. Our own U-8s and U-10s turned up in big numbers and fared well.

 

Reserves: We are now in a long gap without games for both reserve teams, with no fixtures until the RFL Division 1B resumes on May 6, with the O’Duffy Cup first round against Clontibret coming four days later on May 10.

 

Minors: Our minor footballers got their first league win in convincing fashion away to Carrickmacross last Tuesday. Points by Kyle O’Leary, Jack Deery and Reece Treanor and goals by Darragh Hannon and Reece in the opening quarter got our lads off to a flying start. Jack also found the net and Remy McKenna, Reece and Shane McMahon added points to make the half-time score 3-7 to 0-1. Dylan McKenna, Reece and Dillon Duffy hit points in the second half, with Shane netting to make the final score 4-12 to 0-3 in our favour.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Niall McManus, Evan Cudden, Conor Flynn; Remy McKenna (0-1), David Lowry (Capt.), Kevin Lyden; Dylan McKenna (0-2), Darragh Hannon (1-0); Jack Deery (1-1), Shane McMahon (1-1), Kyle O’Leary (0-1); Reece Treanor (1-5, 0-3f), Dillon Duffy (0-1), John Mulligan.

Subs: Shane McKenna for Flynn (H-T), Ruairí Forde for O’Leary (45 mins).

A busy schedule continued with a home game against Scotstown on Tuesday – see website for result – and carries on with games away to Seán McDermotts on Friday and St. Patrick’s in Drumhowan next Tuesday.

 

U-16: Our Under-16 footballers lost out by 4-8 to 4-5 away to Aughnamullen last Thursday. The lads are at home to Inniskeen this Thursday at 6.45.

 

U-14: Our Under-14 Division One team lost by the narrowest of margins in a high-scoring shoot-out away to Latton in the league last Saturday. Our lads scored six goals as they built up a decent lead at one stage, only for Latton to finish strongly and edge the result by 4-13 to 6-6.

Team: Dylan Ballantine; Andrew Lyden, Conor Devlin; Dean Doherty, Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh, Killian Conlon; Annan Connor, Oisín Fagan; Lorcan O’Rourke, Lochlainn Power, Luke Coyle; Terence McDonald, Stephen Ward.

Sub used: Josh Maguire.

Our Division Four team are back in action with a league game away to Tyholland this Saturday at 2pm.

 

U-12: Two of our Under-12 football teams had home wins in the Spring League last Saturday. Our Zone C team defeated Inniskeen. Tiarnán O’Rourke, Shay and Jamie Cooney and Luke McManus had us well ahead at half-time and Shay, Tiarnán, Daragh Croarkin and Liam Conway all hit scores in the final 20 minutes to keep our lads well clear. Our backs and midfielders worked hard throughout, while a number of players did well coming on as subs, with Scott Cooney getting on the scoresheet.

Team and scorers: Ben Myers; Mark McManus, Liam Conway (1-0); Kevin Moran, James Curley; Tiarnán O’Rourke (1-4), Nathan Lavery (Capt.); Luke McManus (0-1), Daragh Croarkin (0-1); Jamie Cooney (1-1), Shay Cooney (1-4, 0-1f).

Subs used: Michael McMorrow, Conor Treanor, Scott Cooney, Dean Conlon, Diarmuid Magee, Seán Callan.

Our Zone I team won a competitive game against Éire Óg. Points by Josh Kelly, Liam McCabe and Aidan Cunningham got us off to a good start, while Ross Finnegan and Shea Swift were also on target to leave us three scores clear at half-time. Éire Óg rallied in the closing stages, but scores by Josh, Shea and Liam were enough for our lads to win by one.

Team and scorers: Karol Parszywka; Patrick Dooley-Duffy, Gregory O’Connell; Gary Devlin, Scarlett Herron; Jake McConnon, Shea Swift (Capt., 2-0); Josh Kelly (0-4), Aidan Cunningham (0-1); Ross Finnegan (1-1), Liam McCabe (0-2).

Subs used: Jordan Crampton, Michael McMorrow, Luke McManus, David O’Reilly Dermot O’Riordan, Ryan Scott, Aidan McGeough, Joshua Stephenson.

The Zone I team had a bye.

Next up, we have the Spring League Finals in Cloghan on Saturday week (May 2). Details to be announced.

 

Saturday-morning coaching: Our popular Saturday-morning coaching for U-6s, U-8s & U-10s is up and running again for 2015. Anyone who wants to volunteer to help out is encouraged to do so. The coaching returns this Saturday morning after a week off due to the blitzes.

 

Membership: Membership for 2015 is now overdue and must be paid as soon as possible. Fees are as follows: €20 per adult, €10 per child or €50 for a family of two adults and any number of children. Money can be paid in the clubhouse each Sunday night, or any time to registrar Dermot Coyle (086 0734098) Jimmy Croarkin (087 1249635), Peter Coyle (087 9700858), or in Terry’s Bar or the Cosy Bar.

 

County teams: Hard luck to the large Harps contingent on the county minor hurlers, who lost to Tyrone despite giving a spirited performance in last Friday’s Ulster shield semi-final.

 

Cúl Camp: Anyone interested in coaching at this summer’s Cúl Camps can download an application form from the Monaghan GAA website. This application form needs to be completed and returned to Paul O’Connor (developmentmanager.monaghan@gaa.ie) by Friday, May 29.

 

Pitch bookings: All pitch bookings for matches and training sessions this year must be made via 086 1957155. Training times have been allotted and any changes must be notified.

 

Clubhouse: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 for more information. Free Wi-Fi is now available in the clubhouse. Upcoming events include tomorrow night’s table quiz and the Lotto party on May 3.

 

Congratulations: To Jamie Shields, Thomas Croarkin, Conor McCrystal and Adam O’Neill, who helped St. Macartan’s College win the Brock Shield last Tuesday and to the Harps ladies, who celebrated their 2014 success with a presentation night in the Westenra Hotel last Saturday.

 

Handball: Well done to the Harps handballers who have been competing in national competitions in recent weeks, while we hosted the Girls’ National Championships last Saturday.

 

Hurling:

U-12s: Training continues every Sunday at 12pm. Our first fixture is at home to Keady on Monday, April 27 (6.45pm).

U-14s: There was no U-14 fixture this week. Next up is a home game against Knockbridge on May 4 (7.30pm).

U-16s: There was no U-16 fixture this week.  Next Monday we are at home to Lisbellaw with a 7.30 throw-in.

Minors: We had a convincing win in Castleblayney on Sunday with a great defensive display and six different scorers, including a goal from Liam Quinn on his debut.

Team: Cillian Sherry; Liam Quinn (1-0), Dylan McAree, Thomas Croarkin; Anthony Greenan, Reece Treanor (0-2), Liam Neeson; Cathal Power (2-3), Conor Flynn (2-9, 0-5f); Michael Gissane, Ciarán Cassidy (3-1), Nathan O’Donoghue; Conor Duffy, Andrew Connolly (1-0).

Seniors: Our next senior fixture is at home to Carrick next Thursday, April 30, at 7.30pm…