Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 1, 19, 21 and 28. Jackpot of €8,000 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Patricia McCann c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Eva Maco Treanor c/o Eileen McElvaney (Ladies Club); €40 Dermot Coyle c/o himself; €40 Zoe Gilsenan c/o Paddy Donnelly. Jackpot for Sunday, December 4 is up to €8,100 and Monica and Paudge Connolly are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in our clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome. Thanks to everyone who supports our Lotto.

 

AGM: The Club’s Annual General Meeting took place in the clubhouse last Thursday night. Seán McKenna and Lorcan McAdam welcomed everyone, before presenting the Chairman’s Address and Secretary’s Report, both giving an overview of another busy year, while Jimmy Croarkin presented the finance report and praised everyone involved in raising money for the club. Sub-committee reports were delivered by Maria McKenna (Lotto); Damien Morgan (Juveniles); Martin McEntee (Handball) and the Coaching and Health & Wellbeing reports were read out on behalf of Pádraig Callan and Martin Sheridan. The following committee was elected for 2017: Chairman: Seán McKenna; Vice-Chairman: Séamus McManus; Secretary: Lorcan McAdam; Assistant Secretary: Nicola Shalvey; Treasurer: Jimmy Croarkin; Assistant Treasurers: Dermot Coyle & Rose Donnelly; Registrar: Kevin Treanor; PRO: Colm Shalvey; Development Officer: John Hahessy; Youth Officer: Mary White; Children’s Officer: Aideen Swift; Coaching Officer: Pádraig Callan; Cultural Officer: Gerard Clerkin; Health & Wellbeing Officer: Martin Sheridan: Insurance Officer: Ann Treanor; County Board delegate: Fergus Coyle. Thanks to all our committee members, all who attended and everyone who contributes to the club on an ongoing basis. Thanks to outgoing Youth Officer Michael O’Donoghue and Development Officer Ciarán Cuddy and to Mary White and John Hahessy for taking up these roles. A full report of the AGM will be available on our website.

 

History social night: As part of compiling a club history, we will be hosting another reminiscence evening in the early weeks of 2017: keep an eye on club notes for more details.

 

Dates to remember: Our juvenile presentation night takes place tomorrow night, while our annual charity match goes ahead as usual on New Year’s Day. Keep an eye on club notes for more details on these events.

 

Sympathy: The club sends sympathy to Hugh Coyle and family on the death of his mother, Gretta. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

 

Coaching: There are several upcoming coaching courses/workshops in Cloghan. Check the Monaghan GAA website and contact Pádraig Callan if you wish to attend any.

 

Balloon Race: The winning balloon from the Great Harps Balloon Race 2016 was found in Touquin, France. See next week’s notes for the winner.

 

Know Your Sport: No less than nine entrants ended up level at the top of the leaderboard in our sports prediction competition. Nico Rosberg’s Formula 1 Championship win meant that Séamus McManus, Ciarán Toner, Anne McManus and Séamus Carey joined Paul Fay, Adrian Gunn, Hugh Moyna, Jim Fanning and Jonathan Browne on 13 points each.

 

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.

 

 

Hurling:

 

Juveniles: Training and games for all juvenile age groups continues every Sunday at 12pm in Rooskey. Anyone interested in bringing along their child or helping out with the coaching, please contact the Monaghan Harps Hurling Facebook page.

 

Minors: We contested the Ulster minor league final against Naomh Moninne, Dundalk last Sunday in cold conditions at Cloghan. Naomh Moninne’s path to the final saw them finish group runners-up, before emphatically dispatching St Fechin’s (7-29 to 0-11) in their quarter-final, followed by a one point win over Carrickmacross in a tight semi-final (2-14 to 2-13). With this in mind, our lads knew they had a tough test in prospect, however confidence taken from our own path to the final ensured we had nothing to fear. We defeated Cootehill in our quarter-final on October 15 (4-17 to 2-7) before progressing to play away to Lisbellaw in our semi-final on November 20. Lisbellaw no doubt held the favorites’ tag coming into this one having beaten us in the group stages and topping the table as a result, however a mature performance from our lads was to ensure we’d progress on a 7-12 to 1-9 scoreline. We showed our intent from the early stages of the final, pushing ourselves into a two-point lead after four minutes, courtesy of Cathal Power and Aidan Burns. Naomh Moninne worked themselves level over the next ten minutes through two frees, and in that time thwarted numerous Harps attacks. The pressure began to tell, however. and by the 20th minute, we found ourselves three points clear. The teams traded scores over the remainder of half, which finished with the Harps leading 0-7 to 0-5. Another Harps purple patch at the start of the second half saw Aidan Burns again on the scoresheet, followed quickly by a fine solo point by Remy McKenna. The commitment and intensity of the Harps tackling ensured that chances were few and far between for Naomh Moninne, while our attacks were persistent, albeit not yielding scores as frequently as desired. The real breakthrough came on the 38th minute when great work by Mark Murphy and Kieran McQuaid led to a well-taken goal by Lochlainn Power. Minutes later, Kieran McQuaid hit the crossbar and as ill-luck would have it, the ball bounced to safety for Naomh Moninne. A Cathal Power free extended the lead, before two Naomh Moninne scores (one from the impressive Darren Geoghegan) brought the lead back to two points. Naomh Moninne pushed hard to find an elusive goal but they were repeatedly denied by a fine display from Cillian Sherry in goals and Dylan McAree at full-back. The win was sealed in the final minutes by another Remy McKenna defence-breaking run and point conversion to maintain the six-point gap until the final whistle; the game finishing 1-11 to 0-8. Well done to the whole squad and management of Patrick Meehan and Adrian Dalton. Huge thanks go to all those that came along to support the team, from parents to senior players. It truly made this a special day for the club.

Squad: Cillian Sherry; Emmet Walshe, Dylan McAree, Conor Duffy; Anthony Greenan, Cathal Power (0-5), Tommy Croarkin; Niall McManus, Aidan Burns (0-4); Nathan O’Donoghue, Remy McKenna (0-2), Lochlainn Power (1-0); Conor McCrystal, Kieran McQuaid, Mark Murphy, Seán Conway, John Lowry, Luke Mulligan, Conor Devlin, Stefan McQuaid, Andrew Connolly.

 

AGM: Our AGM will take place on Saturday, December 10 at 8pm in the clubhouse.