Fixtures: Saturday, September 12: Under-14 FL Division Four Shield Final v Castleblayney in Clones at 12.30pm

Sunday, September 13: Emyvale v Tyholland at Gavan Duffy Park at 2pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 5, 6, 12 and 17. Jackpot of €1,700 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Séamus Mulligan c/o John Harden; €40 F Mohan c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club); €40 Tommy Reilly c/o Ann Treanor; €40 Eugene Greenan c/o Séamus Treanor. Jackpot for Sunday, September 13 is €1,800 and Dermot and Liz Brannigan are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

Championship: We host an Intermediate Football Championship game between Emyvale and Tyholland this Sunday at 2pm. Anyone who is available to help out is asked to be at Gavan Duffy Park from 1pm.

 

Family Fun Day: We will be hosting a Fun Sports Day at Gavan Duffy Park on Saturday, October 3, starting at 12.30pm. The fun for young and old will start at 12.30pm and will continue throughout the day, including ‘The Great Harps Balloon Race’. More details to follow in the coming weeks.

 

Seniors: We lost out to Scotstown in Round 2A of the Greenfield Foods Senior Football Championship in Truagh last Sunday. Points by Dónal Hahessy (free) and Gareth Treanor kept us in touch early on, but Rory Beggan converted three ‘45s in succession to move Scotstown ahead. Conor Galligan and Fearghal McMahon added points, but Scotstown then got the opening goal and although Fearghal converted another brace of frees, we fell seven points down towards the half-way mark. Dónal got the last point of the half, but we still trailed by 1-10 to 0-7 and our only scores of the third quarter came from Gareth and Nicholas Treanor. Fearghal, Nicholas and Aodhán Óg McAnespie got points as we showed some spirit in the final quarter, but when Scotstown pounced for their second goal, it was out of reach as we ended up on the wrong end of a 2-15 to 0-12 scoreline.

Team and scorers: Ashley White; Nicholas Scott, David Hughes, Conor Galligan (Capt., 0-1); Gareth Treanor (0-2), Neil McAdam, Kevin Loughran; Stephen Driver, Peter Coyle; Dónal Hahessy (0-2f), Nicholas Treanor (0-2), Liam Hahessy; Niall Hahessy, Shane Smyth, Fearghal McMahon (0-4f).

Subs: Gary White for L Hahessy (38 mins), Aodhán Óg McAnespie (0-1) for Coyle (44), Michael Galligan for N Hahessy (56), John Mulligan for G Treanor (59).

We now await details of our Round 3B fixture, due to be played on September 19.

 

Darkness into Light: The cheque presentation for Darkness into Light Monaghan 2015 and the planting of the memory tree took place at Gavan Duffy Park last Thursday evening. We were joined by Marie Peelo and Kieran Brady of Pieta House, who revealed that this year’s walk had raised the very impressive figure of €39,500, more than double last year’s total. Club Chairman Seán McKenna welcomed everyone there and thanked everyone who made the walk such a success again this year. We then planted the memory tree (again kindly donated by Jenny Blackburn) on our grounds, with the help of Monaghan Rose Michelle Caulfield. Thanks to everyone who attended and well done again to everyone involved.

 

U-14: Our Under-14 Division One team are now due to play their rescheduled league semi-final at home to Castleblayney tomorrow evening (Friday) at 6.30.

Our Division Four team are now in the Shield Final after a busy week. First up was the play-off at home to St. Tiarnach Sarsfields last Tuesday. Goals by Tiarnán O’Rourke, Adam McGarry and Dylan Ballantine and points by Dean Doherty, Dylan and Brian McAteer kept our lads in touch in an evenly-matched first half, after which the visitors led by 3-4 to 3-3. The Clones/Killeevan amalgamation pulled away after the restart and although scores by Nathan Lavery and Shay Cooney, plus 1-2 from Adam, closed the gap, our lads lost out in the end by 6-10 to 5-6.

Team and scorers: Daragh Croarkin; Lukas Virfilas, James McKenny; Brian McAteer (0-1), Liam Conway; Jamie McCarron (Capt.), Dylan Ballantine (1-1, 0-1f); Dean Doherty (0-1f), Mujtaba Gamal; Tiarnán O’Rourke (1-0), Adam McGarry (2-2).

Subs used: Nathan Lavery (1-0), Ryan McSkeane, Shay Cooney (0-1), Killian Treanor, Tyler Murray.

This team bounced back with a comprehensive win at home to Corduff in Saturday’s shield semi-final. Terence McDonald, Shay Cooney and Deivydas Kaklauskas had their shooting boots on in the first half, while Dylan Ballantine and Dean Doherty also got on the scoresheet as our lads built up a good lead. Dylan, Terence, Liam Conway, Adam McGarry, Nathan Lavery and Mujtaba Gamal were among the scorers in the second half, which saw the Harps stretch their lead to secure a convincing victory. The lads are now due to play Castleblayney in the final this Saturday; check online for fixture details. All support is welcome for both teams.

Team and scorers: Daragh Croarkin; Lukas Virfilas, James McKenny; Brian McAteer; Jamie McCarron (Capt.), Tiarnán O’Rourke; Shay Cooney (4-0), Deivydas Kaklauskas (1-2), Terence McDonald (3-4, 0-1f).

Subs used: Dylan Ballantine (4-2), Liam Conway (1-0), Dean Doherty (1-0), Adam McGarry (2-0), Nathan Lavery (0-1), Ryan McSkeane, Mujtaba Gamal (1-1), Tyler Murray.

 

Blitz: We hosted a double blitz for U-10s and U-8s at Gavan Duffy Park last Saturday morning. We were lucky to have great weather on the morning and plenty of help to run the blitz very efficiently. Thanks to everyone who helped out in organising and running the blitz and well done to all the Harps teams who took part along with Scotstown, Seán McDermotts, Truagh and Tyholland. There are further blitzes coming up for our U-10 and U-11 teams, as well as our U-12 Street League.

 

Harps hats: Hats with the club crest are for sale now at a cost of €8. They are available in the clubhouse and the shop at home matches, or by contacting Una Forde (087 6107329).

 

Hurling final tickets: The club’s draw for All-Ireland hurling final tickets were Anne Smyth, Damien Morgan, Owen Smyth and Jimmy Croarkin.

 

Know Your Sport: Emmet McWilliams leads our Know Your Sport prediction competition with 11 points, one ahead of another ten entrants.

 

Vetting: Anyone who has received their Garda vetting clearance form is asked to provide a photocopy to Tommy McCabe.

 

Mary White: Mary has a clothes collection in McNally’s Car Park this Saturday from 10am to 2pm to raise funds for her volunteering trip to Mexico.

 

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.

 

Hurling:

U-12 League Final: Our U-12 team put in a great performance in their league final on Monday evening against Keady in Cremartin but lost out by four scores in the end. The Harps back line of Mark McManus, Jack McDonald and Kasper Ostrowski along with goalkeeper Daragh Croarkin worked tirelessly throughout the first half to keep scoreless a Keady team that had hit the target twenty times in their semi-final, and with both teams going in scoreless at half-time, it was all to play for. A to and fro contest followed in the second half with both defences dominating up until Keady opened up the scoring from a free in the 28th minute. The Harps response was almost immediate when Aidan McKenna pointed from a free two minutes later. However, Keady hit a purple patch and scored four times between the 32nd and 38th minutes and despite efforts from Tiarnán O’Rourke, Luke Aughey and Paul Maguire we couldn’t eat into the lead as Keady won on a scoreline of 1-4 to 0-1. Hard luck to the whole squad but also a huge well done to every one of them as they have put in an excellent effort with both club and school since February. Hard luck also to Jim, Pádraig, Tommy and Michael and well done on your efforts also.

Squad: Daragh Croarkin; Jack McDonald, Mark McManus; Che Treanor, Kasper Ostrowski; Tiarnán O’Rourke, Liam Conway; Luke Aughey, Aidan McKenna; Paul Maguire, Luke McManus, Shea Swift, Liam McCabe, Cian Bradley, Aidan McGeough, Oisín Murray, Jordan Crampton, Oisín Reilly, Declan McKenna, Aidan Cunningham, Michael McMorrow, Nicholas Sherlock, Caolán McKenna, Seán Callan.

Sponsor and Training: A massive thanks to Pádraig McGeough and Mono Furniture for sponsoring a set of jerseys for our U-12 squad. These jerseys, which can be seen on our Facebook page, will be available to order very soon. Training continues for all underage groups every Sunday at 12 noon.