Fixtures: Tuesday, July 14: Under-12 FL Division Four v Aughnamullen (Home) at 7.30pm

Wednesday, July 15: RFL Division Three v Clones (Away) at 8pm

Thursday, July 16: Under-16 FL Division Shield v St. Patrick’s (Away) at 7.30pm in Ballybay

Friday, July 17: Under-21 Division Two S-F v Carrickmacross (Home) at 7.45pm

Saturday, July 18: RFL Division One v Castleblayney (Home) at 7pm; Under-14 FL Division Four v Seán McDermotts (Away) at 12pm

Monday, July 20: Under-16 HL v Inniskeen (Away) at 8pm; Under-12 HL v Inniskeen (Away) at 6.45pm

Tuesday, July 21: MFC Division One Q-F v Truagh (Away) at 7.30pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 7, 14, 19 and 25. Jackpot of €3,100 won by Gerard McKenna Myles c/o Paddy Donnelly! Congratulations to Gerard! Jackpot for Sunday, July 19 is €1,000 and Monica and Paudge Connolly are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

Seniors: Our senior footballers had a seven-point win away to Castleblayney in the league last Sunday. Despite conceding an early goal, 1-1 by Éimhín Morahan and points by Dónal Hahessy (three) and Dean Fanning had us ahead for most of the first half, but Blayney rallied to draw level at 1-5 apiece. Liam Hahessy, Conor Galligan, Fearghal McMahon, Éimhín, Nicholas Scott, Dean and Dónal were all on target in the second half, as our lads pulled away to win by 1-16 to 2-6. Keep an eye on the notes for details of fixtures in the coming weeks.

Team and scorers: Ashley White; Niall Treanor, David Hughes, Kevin Loughran; Conor Galligan (Capt., 0-2), Nicholas Scott (0-1), Mark McCaughey; Stephen Driver, Aodhán Óg McAnespie; Nicholas Treanor, Dónal Hahessy (0-5, 2f), Éimhín Morahan (1-2); Liam Hahessy (0-2), Fearghal McMahon (0-2, 1f), Dean Fanning (0-2).

Subs: Dónal McCarthy for McCaughey (black card, 49 mins).

 

Reserves: We stayed in contention the RFL Division Three with a good win at home to Aghabog last Sunday. We dominated early on, with Paul Rushe finding the net and several others getting on the scoresheet, including Dylan McKenna, who impressed on his debut for this team. We leaked two goals before half-time, but still led by 1-8 to 2-2 at half-time and moved ahead again with a great goal by Dónal McCarthy. We stayed ahead throughout and late goals by subs Remy McKenna and Paul Byrnes made the final score 4-14 to 3-6.

Team: Cónall McKenna; Ahmed Gamal, Paul Smyth; Marc Brennan, Turlough Clerkin, Tiarnán Bramley; James McKenna, Dylan McKenna; John Treanor, Colm Shalvey, Dónal McCarthy; Dessie McGarry, Paul Rushe (Capt.).

Subs used: Remy McKenna, David Lowry, Paul Byrnes, Thomas Bourke, David Carey, Niall Duffy.

We have another important RFL Division Three game away to Clones tomorrow night (Wednesday) and we host Castleblayney in Division 1B on Saturday, with the winners set to finish top and go straight through to the final.

 

U-21: Our Under-21s fell to a narrow defeat in last Friday’s Division One quarter-final at home to Scotstown. A nightmare start saw Scotstown rattle in an unanswered 2-2, before points by Michael Galligan and Dónal McCarthy got our lads, who had a much-changed team from the opening game, off the mark. Scotstown pulled away again and although a goal by Dylan McKenna and a point from Fearghal McMahon closed the gap, the Harps still trailed by 2-8 to 1-4 at half-time. Fearghal led our second-half comeback with 2-3, but missed chances in the closing stages meant we were unable to finish the job, falling short on a scoreline of 2-13 to 3-7.

Team and scorers: Ryan Shields; Ahmed Gamal, Mustafa Gamal, Conor Forde (Joint-Capt.); Paul Smyth, Niall Treanor, Tiarnán Bramley; Dónal McCarthy (0-1), Turlough Clerkin; Dylan McKenna (1-0), Kevin Loughran, Remy McKenna; Fearghal McMahon (2-4, 1-0 pen, 0-1f, 0-1 ’45), John Treanor, Michael Galligan (Joint-Capt., 0-2f).

Subs used: David Lowry, Conor Flynn, Ruairí Forde.

The U-21s now go into a Division Two semi-final at home to Carrickmacross this Friday.

 

Minors: Our minor footballers had a home win over Scotstown in the first game of the Division One league shield last Tuesday. A goal by Shane McMahon and points by Conor Duffy (three), Remy McKenna and Jamie Shields had our lads ahead by 1-5 to 0-3 at half-time, while Shane and Reece Treanor added points after the restart. Kyle O’Leary and Shane found the net in the second half and further scores from Shane and Reece ensured that our lads did enough to hold off Scotstown’s challenge on a scoreline of 3-12 to 3-9.

Team: Conor Flynn; Niall McManus, Shane McKenna, Ruairí Forde; Kevin Lyden, David Lowry (Capt.), Kyle O’Leary; Dillon Duffy, Remy McKenna; Jamie Shields, Shane McMahon, Conor Duffy; Reece Treanor, Dylan McKenna, John Mulligan.

Sub: Michael Mulligan.

Our minors are away to Truagh in a championship quarter-final next Tuesday, July 21.

 

U-16: Our Under-16 footballers lost their championship quarter-final away to Scotstown last Thursday. Our lads competed well in a low-scoring first half, but they failed to put the scores up and Scotstown took a 1-3 to 0-2 lead with a late burst. Scotstown took over in the second half and ran out convincing winners. Our lads start their Division One League Shield campaign against St. Patrick’s in Ballybay this Thursday.

 

U-14: Our Under-14 Division Four team have a league game away to Seán McDermotts on Saturday at 12 noon. The Division One game against Latton has been postponed until Sunday, July 26.

 

U-12: There were mixed fortunes for our three Under-12 teams in another entertaining triple-header at Gavan Duffy Park last Saturday, when we had a win, a draw and a loss.

Our Division Four team started things with a good win over Aghabog. An Eoin O’Hanlon point and 1-1 by Oisín Reilly got us off to a strong start, but Aghabog rallied to lead by 1-3 to 1-2 at the end of a half where some excellent defending kept us in touch. Our lads had the wind behind them in the final 20 minutes, however, and they used it well, with goals by Fionán Ó Gallchóir and Oisín and points by Cian Bradley (three) and Seán Callan turning the game in their favour. A strong finish saw Eoin, Oisín and Morgan Coyle score excellent goals to secure a 6-6 to 3-4 win.

Team and scorers: Ethan Ballantine; Mark Clerkin, Dáire Conlon; Scarlett Herron, Gary Devlin; Eoin O’Hanlon (1-1), Seán Callan (0-1); Fionán Ó Gallchóir (Capt., 1-0), Cian Bradley (0-3); Oisín Reilly (3-1, 0-1f), Senan Cudden.

Subs used: Morgan Coyle (1-0), Oisín Treanor, Gregory O’Connell, Max Mallen, Aidan McGeough, Shane Moran, Mark Corrigan, Shea Swift, Patrick Dooley-Duffy, Luke McManus, Ross Finnegan, Jake McConnon.

Next up was the Division Five game against Castleblayney. Our only scores against the wind in the opening period were a goal and a point by Ben Myers, while Blayney scored 2-5. Our lads dominated the rest of the game, with two points each by Eoin O’Hanlon and Ethan Ballantine and one from Seán Callan closing the gap, but we ran out of time and it finished 2-5 to 1-6 in Blayney’s favour.

Team and scorers: Scarlett Herron; Che Treanor (Capt.), Patrick Dooley-Duffy; Gary Devlin, James Curley; Jake McConnon, Ethan Ballantine (0-2); Seán Callan (0-1), Shea Swift; Ross Finnegan, Ben Myers (1-1).

Subs used: Eoin O’Hanlon (0-2f), Senan Cudden, Kevin Moran, Morgan Coyle, Gregory O’Connell, Conor Treanor, Dean Conlon, Luke McManus, Diarmuid Magee, Max Mallen, Shane Moran, Cian Bradley, Aidan McGeough.

Last up was the Division One game, also against Blayney. Once again, we faced the elements from the start and although we opened the scoring through Tiarnán O’Rourke, our only other point of the first period came from Nathan Lavery, while Blayney hit 1-5. A spirited comeback saw us hit eight unanswered points in the final 15 minutes, with Tiarnán, Nathan, Shay Cooney and Jake Power on target, but Blayney hit a late equaliser to make the final score 0-10 to 1-7.

Team and scorers: Daragh Croarkin; Ryan McSkeane, Liam Conway; Kevin Moran, Mark McManus; Tiarnán O’Rourke (Capt., 0-5), Nathan Lavery (0-2, 1f); Luke McManus, Shay Cooney (0-2, 1 ’45); Jamie Coyle, Josh Kelly.

Subs used: Jake Power (0-1f), Eoin O’Hanlon, Gary Devlin, Ben Myers, James Curley, Diarmuid Magee, Conor Treanor, Che Treanor, Dean Conlon, Ethan Ballantine, Morgan Coyle, Shane Moran.

Our Division Four team are back in action on Tuesday against Aughnamullen and all three teams remain in contention ahead of the final-round league games on Saturday week (July 25).

 

Good luck: To Neil McAdam and the Monaghan senior footballers in Sunday’s Ulster SFC Final against Donegal in Clones.

 

Summer Camps: Big crowds of juveniles attended the Monaghan GAA Cúl Camp at Gavan Duffy Park last week. Well done to all involved. After the success of last year’s Harps Summer Camp, we will host it for a second time from August 17-21. More details will be announced later.

 

Irish Cancer Society: Thanks to all the club members who helped out with the church-gate collection for the Irish Cancer Society last weekend.

 

Gavan Duffy Park: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 or Pádraig Callan on 087 2139188 for more information. Anyone looking to book the clubhouse for meetings, functions, etc. is asked to please give a week’s notice for convenience.  Membership cards for all paid-up club members are now available and can be collected on Sunday nights from 8pm to 10pm, as can Darkness into Light t-shirts for anyone who didn’t receive theirs on the morning of the event. All club members and team mentors are asked to take care with our facilities and ensure that lights are turned off and doors and gates are locked up.

 

 

Hurling:

U-12s: Next up is an away trip to Inniskeen on Monday, July 20 at 6.45pm. Training continues on Sundays at 12pm.

U-14s: We are at home to Castleblayney in the final round of the league on July 27 at 7.30pm.

U-16s & Minors: Next in the U-16 league we are away to Inniskeen on Monday, July 20 at 8pm. We have been drawn to play Truagh at home in the minor championship quarter-finals, due to be played on Sunday, August 16.

Seniors: Our senior team took on Carrickmacross last Thursday evening in the championship quarter-final in Castleblayney. After a slow start to the game, we worked our way back into contention and trailed by four points at half time (2-4 to 0-6). An impressive second-half display saw us take the lead midway through with the help of two goals. The first came as a result of a powerful drive at goal by Alan Ryan from a 21-metre free and the second came through Paul Lee after he won a breaking ball in front of goal before turning to swiftly find the net. Unfortunately, a number of scores from frees throughout the final ten minutes were enough to see Carrick through to the semi-final on a scoreline of 3-16 to 2-13.