Fixtures: Sunday, October 25: SFL v Latton (Home) at 2pm; Ulster Minor Club Hurling Championship v Lisbellaw in Ballinascreen at 1pm.

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 1, 2, 3 and 11. Jackpot of €2,300 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Mary McGinn c/o Neil McGinn; €40 Ailish Connolly c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club); €40 Patricia McCann c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 James Kearns c/o Barry Sullivan. Jackpot for Sunday, October 25 is €2,400 and Tessie Connolly and Kathleen and Seán Boyle are on duty.

 

SFC: Our bid for a long-awaited county title fell short against Scotstown in the Greenfield Foods Senior Football Championship Final in Clones last Sunday at 3pm. A Shane Smyth point got us off to a good start, but we then conceded a goal and although Neil McAdam got a point back, a second Scotstown major left us with an uphill battle. Points by Dónal Hahessy, Fearghal McMahon and Gary White kept us in touch, but we trailed by 2-4 to 0-5 at half-time. A bright start to the second half saw points from Shane and Gary close the gap to three, but we were unable to make the breakthrough for the goal we needed. Gary and Neil got our last two points as Scotstown ran out 2-12 to 0-9 winners. We wish our neighbours well in the Ulster Club. Thanks to everyone who supported our team and club in the build-up and during the game itself and well done to the players and management for getting to our first county final since 1991. We now move on to the closing stages of the Senior Football League, returning to action this Sunday at home to Latton at 2pm.

Team and scorers: Ashley White; Niall Hahessy, David Hughes, Kevin Loughran; Gareth Treanor, Conor Galligan (Capt.), Nicholas Scott; Neil McAdam (0-2, 1f), Stephen Driver; Nicholas Treanor, Gary White (0-3), Michael Galligan; Dónal Hahessy (0-1f), Shane Smyth (0-2), Fearghal McMahon (0-1f).

Subs: John Mulligan for C Galligan (inj., 29 mins), Liam Hahessy for D Hahessy (40), Aodhán Óg McAnespie for G Treanor (45), Conor Galligan for N Hahessy (49), Peter Coyle for Hughes (inj., 53).

 

Breakfast morning: Thanks to everyone involved in our breakfast morning in the clubhouse last Sunday. A huge crowd attended and we are grateful to all club members who worked hard on the morning and to all our sponsors. See more in next week’s notes.

 

IFC 25^th Anniversary Reunion: There is a reunion of the 1990 IFC-winning team in the clubhouse this Saturday night. A meal will be served on the night, followed by a disco. All welcome.

Juveniles: The juvenile year came to an enjoyable and successful end with an U-13 blitz last Thursday night in Cloghan. Our lads took a bit of time to get into their stride, but we had an opening win over Seán McDermotts, with Tiarnán O’Rourke, Dylan Ballantine, Nathan Lavery, Eoghan McGinnity, Terence McDonald and Adam McGarry all on target. A point from Terence and two long-range efforts by Eoghan saw us come from behind to claim an exciting draw with Latton and we then got the better of Carrickmacross, thanks to scores from Tiarnán, Liam Conway, Dylan, Dean Doherty, Adam, Terence and Eoghan. That put us into a group decider against a previously-unbeaten Aughnamullen team, where a three-pointer by Nathan and further scores from Terence and Eoghan sent us through to the semi-finals. Terence, Eoghan and Dean got the scores to get us past Donaghmoyne and a good performance in the final saw us defeat Inniskeen by 0-5 to 0-2. Points by Dylan and Eoghan had us one up at half-time and some good finishing by Eoghan, along with some excellent defending, kept us ahead throughout the second half. Well done to all involved and thanks to Monaghan Coaching and Games for a well-run tournament. Our panel was: Dylan Ballantine (Capt.), Liam Conway, Dean Doherty, Nathan Lavery, Terence McDonald, Adam McGarry, Eoghan McGinnity, James McKenny, Tiarnán O’Rourke.

 

Scór: Good luck to all our representatives at Scór na nÓg in Ardaghey next Friday, October 30.

 

Well done: To the Harps senior ladies, who qualified for the league final last Sunday.

 

Schools: Hard luck to St. Mary’s Boys National School, who lost out to Castleblayney in the Frank McGinn Cup Final last Saturday. The lads came from five points down to force extra-time, only for Blayney to eventually run out 2-9 to 1-9 winners. The Harps were well represented on the St. Mary’s panel.

 

Half-time game: Well done to our own U-10s, who played their Scotstown counterparts at half-time of the SFC Final last Sunday.

 

Know Your Sport: Emmet McWilliams now leads the way in our Know Your Sport predictions competition on 14 points.

 

Coaching Conference: Monaghan Coaching & Games will once again be running their now bi-annual coaching conference on Saturday, November 7 in Our Lady’s Secondary School, Castleblayney. The conference will target all club coaches from juvenile to senior level and anybody with an interest in coaching and promoting Gaelic Games. See Monaghan GAA website for more details.

 

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. Huge thanks go to everyone who helped with refurbishing the clubhouse in the last couple of weeks.

 

 

Hurling:

Minor Club Championship: Our minors will take on Lisbellaw of Fermanagh in their Ulster competition this Sunday, October 25, in Ballinascreen at 1pm.

Club Jerseys: The new hurling jerseys are now available to order. All jersey sizes are available in Club Fit (loose) and small, medium and large adult sizes are available in Player Fit (tight). A number may be added if desired. Orders can be placed through messaging the Facebook page admin or through Jim Dalton. Prices are as follows: Size 10/11 – €27, Size 13/14 – €34, Size Adult – €37.