Fixtures: Saturday, March 18: RFL Division 2B v Rockcorry (Home) at 5pm; U-12 Spring League Zone C v Clontibret (H) at 2pm; Zone D v Clontibret (H) at 3.15pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 9, 16, 20 and 27. Jackpot of €1,800 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Kevin Treanor c/o Ann Treanor; €40 T Martin Fuels c/o Barry Sullivan; €40 Fiona Mullan c/o Tessie Connolly; €40 Seán Conlon c/o Paddy Donnelly. Jackpot for Sunday, March 19 is €1,900 and Helen and John Hahessy are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in our clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome. Thanks to everyone for their support for our Lotto, which plays a critical role in our club’s funding. We ask all club members to continue to promote our Lotto as much as possible.

 

St. Patrick’s Day: We are, as always, looking forward to the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations on Friday. Our juveniles and their mentors will take part in the town parade – meeting up at 2pm – and everyone is welcome to join us for an evening of ceol agus craic in the clubhouse afterwards, with the All-Ireland club finals being shown. Club members are asked to support in any way they can, with help in bringing food particularly appreciated. Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir!

 

Race night: We host a race night in our clubhouse on Friday week, March 24. Anyone who wants to get involved can sponsor a horse for €10 by contacting any adult player.

 

Reserves: The Platinum Tanks Reserve Football League Division 1A began with an away game against Scotstown last Sunday. A disappointing first half, playing against the wind, saw us end up trailing by 0-11 to 0-3, with Nicholas Treanor, Remy McKenna and Éimhín Morahan. An improved second-half performance saw Liam Hahessy, Shane McMahon, Niall Greenan, Conor Forde and John Mulligan all get on the scoresheet, but we fell short on a 0-15 to 0-12 scoreline.

Team and scorers: Emmett McArdle; Niall Treanor, David Lowry, Paul Smyth; Conor Forde (0-1), Shane Coyle, John Mulligan (0-1); Remy McKenna (0-1), Éimhín Morahan (0-1f); Shane McMahon (0-2), Nicholas Treanor (0-1), Niall Greenan (0-1); Dean Fanning, Evan Doherty, Liam Hahessy (0-4, 3f).

Subs: Paddy Connolly for Doherty, Pat Meehan for Forde.

We have our first home adult game of the year against Rockcorry in the RFL Division 2B this Saturday at 5pm.

 

U-14: Our two Under-14 football teams started their league campaigns with good away wins last Saturday. Scores were hard earned in the opening stages of our Division One game in Magheracloone, but Jamie Coyle, Liam Conway and Shay Cooney kicked points and Nathan Lavery found the net to leave us 1-3 to 0-3 up at half-time. Magheracloone put us under pressure at the start of the second half, but a hard-working performance in every sector saw our lads push on to win by 3-10 to 0-8. Jake Power top-scored with 2-1, while Shay, Jamie, Daragh Croarkin and the tireless Liam Conway were also on target.

Team and scorers: Daragh Croarkin (0-1); Ryan McSkeane, James Curley; Kevin Moran, Liam Conway (Capt., 0-3, 1f), Gary Devlin; Tiarnán O’Rourke, Nathan Lavery; Michael McMorrow, Shay Cooney (0-3, 1f), Jake Power (2-1); Jamie Coyle (0-2), Ben Myers.

Subs used: Jake McConnon, Fachtna Mac Conghail, Karol Parszywka, Ché Treanor, Shea Swift.

Our Division Five team started with a victory in Scotstown. 1-3 by Daragh Croarkin and further goals by Dáire Sheridan, Shea Swift and Ben Myers, plus a Jake McConnon point, had us 4-4 to 1-4 ahead at half-time. Our lads pulled away after the restart, with Mark and Luke McManus, debutant Fachtna Mac Conghail, Conor Treanor Adam McBride and Josh Kelly all on the mark to rack up a tally of 8-11.

Team and scorers: Gary Devlin; Jordan Crampton, Ché Treanor; Mark McManus (0-1), Fachtna Mac Conghail (1-0); Daragh Croarkin (Capt., 1-3), Ryan McSkeane; Shea Swift (1-0), Dáire Sheridan (1-0); Jake McConnon (0-1), Ben Myers (1-0).

Subs used: Luke McManus (2-1), Gregory O’Connell, Aidan McGeough, Conor Treanor (1-2), Adam McBride (0-2), Josh Kelly (0-1).

The next games for both teams are at home to Carrickmacross.

 

U-12s: Our two Under-12 football teams start their Spring League campaigns this Saturday with a home double-header against Clontibret: Zone C at 2pm and Zone D at 3.15. Good luck to all involved.

 

Club History: We will host our second club reminiscence night in the clubhouse next Thursday (March 23) at 8pm.

 

Membership: Registration fees of €20 for 2017 can now be paid to club registrar Kevin Treanor or in the clubhouse. All players and members must be paid up by the end of March and are asked to register as soon as possible. Members can now avail of the GAA’s new ‘GRMA’ scheme, with access to exclusive discounts and special offers. See gaa.ie for more details.

 

Dates to remember: The Senior Football League is scheduled to start on Saturday, April 8 (away to Killanny), with the Minor Football League getting underway on Tuesday, March 28. Provisional fixtures for 2017 are available on our website. Our annual Cake Sale is set for Saturday, April 29, while our Saturday-morning coaching for juveniles will also kick off in April. We will be participating and hosting at Féile Peil na nÓg 2017 (June 23-25), a week after our juvenile street collection. Darkness into Light 2017 will take place in the early hours of Saturday, May 6. Keep an eye on club notes for more details on these events.

 

Juveniles: Training is well underway for all of our juvenile football teams, with our Under-12s next to start their campaign this Saturday and the Under-16 league beginning on Thursday, March 30.

 

Coaching: There are several upcoming coaching courses/workshops. These include a Skill Development Workshop for U-14/U-16 coaches scheduled for our own grounds on Monday week, March 27. Check the Monaghan GAA website and contact Pádraig Callan if you wish to attend any. Keep an eye out for details about a possible upcoming Child Protection course.

 

County: Good luck to Neil McAdam and the Monaghan team in their Allianz NFL game against Roscommon in Inniskeen on Sunday.

 

Notes: Anyone who has news for inclusion in the club notes can send an email to pro.monaghanharps.monaghan@gaa.ie by Tuesday morning.

 

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.

 

Handball: The Senior County final was won by Bawn’s Gavin Coyle on the scoreline of 21-11, 21-10. Ramunas played very well and kept in touch for much of the contest. However, his opponent had all the answers and fully deserved the victory. We wish Gavin every success in his All-Ireland final.

Good luck to Tiarnán, Konrad and Justas in their respective finals on Sunday.

 

1981 McNally Cup Team Reunion: Barry O’Connor recently posted a picture on Facebook of the 1981 McNally Cup winning team. As a result, the social media wires were red hot for a few days. The picture prompted Kenny Gormley to speak with Mo Galligan about the whereabouts of Kieran Mullen and the idea of a summer reunion was born. The plan is to meet at the clubhouse some Saturday night in July and to recreate the picture. So, if any of the following is reading this or anyone knows their whereabouts could you message or email Paul Swift at 086 1703640 or pswift5@eircom.net

Barry McEntee, Nigel Corrigan, Seamus McCarron, Kenny Gormley, Kieran Mullen, Pauric Trappe, Tony Halpin, Barry O’Connor, Val Forde, Ciaran Reilly, Seamus Morgan, Paul Swift, Kevin Tibby, John Tibby, Stephen McKenna, Paul McCormick, Roger McQuaid, Mickey Morgan and Kieran Reynolds.

For the record, the mentors were: Patsy Forde, Mick Moran, Eddie Whelan, Patsy Kearns, Harry Hughes and Tom Reilly.