Fixtures: Saturday, May 14: SFC v Magheracloone in Aughnamullen at 7pm

Monday, May 16: U-14 HL v Cootehill (Away) at 7.30pm

Tuesday, May 17: MFL Division One v St. Patrick’s (Away) at 7.30pm * in Ballybay

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 3, 20, 21 and 26. Jackpot of €5,100 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Anthony Lynch c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Eddie Whelan c/o Noel Hennessy; €40 Shea McCaffrey c/o Jimmy Croarkin; €40 Leo, Megan & Kate Rooney c/o Paddy Donnelly. Jackpot for Sunday, May 15 is €5,200 and Rose Hughes and Noel Hennessy are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in our clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

Seniors: Our senior footballers had contrasting fortunes in two home games last week. First up, we lost out to Truagh last Wednesday. Points by Dean Fanning, Éimhín Morahan, Shane Smyth, Neil McAdam and Gary White had us level at 0-6 each at half-time, but Truagh gained the upper hand in the second half. Liam Hahessy, Dean and Shane Coyle kept us within striking distance, but Truagh pulled away in the closing stages, before a goal from Shane Smyth made the final score 1-9 to 0-17.

Team and scorers: Ashley White; Niall Hahessy, David Hughes, Kevin Loughran; Niall Treanor, Nicholas Scott, Neil McAdam (0-1f); Stephen Driver (Capt.), Éimhín Morahan (0-1); Michael Galligan, Shane Smyth (1-1), Dean Fanning (0-3f); Liam Hahessy (0-1f), Gary White (0-1), Francis Lynch.

Subs: Aodhán Óg McAnespie for Treanor (32 mins), Shane Coyle (0-1) for Lynch (35), Conor Forde for Hughes (black card, 56).

We returned to winning ways against Scotstown on Saturday evening. Our captain Conor Galligan made a very welcome return from injury to score an early goal, while points from Liam Hahessy and Dean Fanning kept us ahead, before Niall Hahessy got forward to find the net and leave us 2-3 to 0-4 up at half-time. Liam, Dean, Neil McAdam, Nicholas Scott and Gary White all kicked points in the second half, while Shane Coyle’s goal sealed a 3-11 to 0-12 win.

Team and scorers: Ashley White; Niall Hahessy (1-0), Aodhán Óg McAnespie, David Lowry; Conor Galligan (Capt., 1-0), Nicholas Scott (0-1), Kevin Loughran; Stephen Driver, Éimhín Morahan; Nicholas Treanor, Gary White (0-2), Michael Galligan; Liam Hahessy (0-5, 2f), Neil McAdam (0-1f), Dean Fanning (0-2, 1f).

Subs: James McKenna for A White (black card, 25 mins), Shane Coyle (1-0) for Treanor (53), Niall Treanor for M Galligan (57), Nicholas Treanor for Fanning (58).

We take on Magheracloone in the championship this Saturday evening in Aughnamullen at 7pm. All support welcome.

 

Darkness into Light: We hosted Darkness into Light Monaghan for the third time in the early hours of last Saturday morning, May 7. Approximately 2,400 people took part in the ever-growing fundraiser for Pieta House, the centre for the prevention of self-harm/suicide, creating a special atmosphere throughout the 5km route (helped by the fine weather). Thanks and credit is due to all our club members and everyone else who helped out at the event, which was a great community effort. Well done to everyone involved in preparing for or stewarding on the morning, to all who helped out at the pre-registration and t-shirt collection points, all sponsors and everyone who promoted the event. We are grateful to An Garda Siochána, Civil Defence & Monaghan Municipal District Council for their help in organising the walk. See photos and report elsewhere. We will arrange the planting of this year’s Memory Tree, which was again kindly donated by Jenny Blackburn, in the next few weeks.

 

Reserves: Next up is the O’Duffy Cup semi-final against Ballybay, which is set for Saturday week, May 21.

 

Minors: Our minor footballers fell to a narrow defeat away to Corduff last Tuesday. Remy McKenna made a big impact on his welcome comeback from injury, leading our lads to a 1-4 to 0-5 half-time lead, with Ethan Murphy and Shane McMahon also on target. Jamie Shields and Remy kicked our only points of the second half, while Corduff scored two goals to win by 2-6 to 1-6.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Zach Mallen, Aidan Burns, Thomas Croarkin; Niall Ward, Jamie Shields (0-1), Niall McManus; Ben Kearns-Flynn, Shane McMahon (0-1f); Oisín Fagan, Adam O’Neill, Ethan Murphy (0-1); Nathan O’Donoghue, Remy McKenna (1-3), Jack Deery.

 

U-16: Our Under-16 footballers won Sunday’s rescheduled game away to Truagh. Scores by Conor McCrystal, Lochlainn Power, Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh and Anann Connor had our lads 3-5 to 1-5 up at half-time and Conor, Lochlainn, Mujtaba Gamal and Oisín Fagan were on target after the restart as the Harps stretched their lead. Truagh rallied with a couple of goals inside the last ten minutes, but points from Ógie and Oisín secured a high-scoring 7-10 to 6-7 win.

Team: Dylan Ballantine; Conor McCarron, Seán Conway, Andrew Lyden; Conor Devlin, Dylan Maguire, Stephen Ward; Anann Connor, Adam O’Neill; Oisín Fagan, Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh, Killian Conlon; Conor McCrystal, Lochlainn Power, Mujtaba Gamal.

Subs used: Shea Prunty, David Leane, Luke Coyle.

 

U-14: Our Under-14 teams had mixed fortunes in a busy afternoon last Saturday. Our Division One team lost out away to Latton in difficult conditions. Points by Nathan Lavery and Shay Cooney were all we had to show for a first half where Latton put wind advantage to good use to build up a big lead. Our lads battled away in the second half, with Nathan Shay and Dean Doherty scoring goals, but we were unable to turn the game around.

Team and scorers: Daragh Croarkin; James McKenny, Cathal Nally; Kevin Moran, Tiarnán O’Rourke, Liam Conway; Brian McAteer, Dean Doherty (Capt., 1-0); Josh Maguire, Shay Cooney (1-2), Terence McDonald; Adam McGarry, Nathan Lavery (1-2).

Subs used: Jake Power, Jamie Coyle, James Curley, Ben Myers.

Later on, our Division Five team had a good win away to Scotstown. Brian McAteer, Jamie Coyle, Jake Power, Dáire Sheridan, Adam McGarry and Kevin Moran all kicked scores in the first half as our lads built up a comfortable lead. The second half followed a similar pattern, with Brian, Dáire, Jamie and Jake being joined on the scoresheet by Dean Conlon and Shay Cooney, while Cathal Nally, in particular, repelled a number of Scotstown attacks.

Team and scorers: Conor Treanor; Cathal Nally, James Curley; Mark McManus, Daragh Croarkin, Adam McGarry (0-1); Kevin Moran (1-0), Brian McAteer (Capt., 1-3, 0-1f); Dáire Sheridan (0-3, 1f), Shay Cooney (1-2), Jake Power (0-5, 2f); Jamie Coyle (3-2, 0-1f), Ben Myers.

Sub used: Dean Conlon (1-0).

Next up for both teams are away games in Donaghmoyne on Saturday week (May 21).

 

U-12: The Under-12 Football Leagues are due to get underway this weekend, with our teams in Divisions One and Six. Check online for fixture details.

 

Blitzes: Our Under-10s took part in a blitz at Cloghan last Saturday, while this week is the turn of the Under-8s.

 

Dates to remember: Our Golf Classic is now set for Friday, June 10, with our Street Collection also to take place in June (more details later). The Ladies Club’s Abbey Fanning Sevens Tournament will be played on Saturday, May 28.

 

Membership: Registration fees (€20 for adults, €50 for a family) for 2016 are overdue and must be paid as soon as possible. All players and parents of juveniles are asked to ensure that their membership is paid.

                                                                                        

Pitch bookings: All pitch bookings for 2016 for training or matches must be made via 086 1957155. Training slots have been allocated and any changes must be notified in advance.

 

Gavan Duffy Park: The refurbished Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 or Pádraig Callan on 087 4515206 for more information. Anyone looking to book the clubhouse for meetings, functions, etc. is asked to please give a week’s notice for convenience.

 

Cúl Camp: We will once again host a Kellogg’s Monaghan GAA Cúl Camp from July 11-15. Registration is open online now.

 

Well done: To the Harps minor hurlers, who retained their league title in some style last Sunday.

 

 

Hurling:

Juveniles: Training for all juvenile age groups continues every Sunday at 12pm in Rooskey.

 

Primary Schools: Good luck to all the Harps lads & Jim Dalton when they represent St. Mary’s Primary School in the sevens competition.

 

Minors: Our minors earned back to back Silver Hill Foods league titles on Sunday afternoon in Truagh with a fantastic performance to overcome a Cootehill side that had six points to spare over us only a couple of weeks ago. A couple of players returning from injury along with excellent individual performances from each and every player saw the Harps to a convincing win at this time of asking.

The opening twenty minutes were a to and fro contest and it was Cootehill that opened the scoring on three minutes. Five minutes later Nathan O’Donoghue got the Harps on the scoreboard before Cathal Power pointed from a free to put the Harps into the lead, which they would maintain until the final whistle. Further scores from Nathan and Cathal, along with another from Aidan Burns, saw the Harps into a 0-5 to 0-2 half-time lead.

Cootehill laid siege to the Harps goal for the opening minutes of the second half, however their profligacy was to prove their undoing as they failed to score during that time. It was eight minutes into the second half when Cootehill registered their first of two second-half scores, by which time Stefan McQuaid had shot to the Cootehill net to put the Harps firmly into the driving seat. A purple patch after the 40th minute really put the Harps into a commanding position with a point off the stick of Cathal Power and two goals, one from Aidan Burns followed by one from the impressive Nathan O’Donoghue. From then on the Harps largely controlled the game with Mark Murphy registering two scores and the Harps backs continuing to be stubborn in their defence, with Anthony Greenan and our captain Dylan McAree particularly dominant. The match finished on a 3-12 to 0-4 scoreline. Well done to all the lads on completing their back-to-back league titles which is a great achievement. Thanks also to all that came out to support the squad.

Team & scorers: Seán Grant; Anthony Greenan, Dylan McAree, Conor Duffyl Tommy Croarkin, Cathal Power (0-5), Luke Mulligan; Remy McKenna, Aidan Burns (1-2); Kieran McQuaid, Mark Murphy (0-2), Nathan O’Donoghue (1-3); Stefan McQuaid (1-0), Lochlainn Power, Andrew Connolly.

Subs: Sebastian Ostrowksi for Connolly.

 

Senior: The seniors are back in action this Thursday in the Silver Hill Foods Senior League with an away trip to Carrick at 7.30pm.