Fixtures: Saturday, May 5: U-13 FL Division One v Scotstown (Home) at 12pm; U-13 FL Division Five v Castleblayney (Away) at 2.30pm

Sunday, May 6: RFC Crawley Cup v Carrickmacross (Home) at 2pm

Monday, May 7: U-13 HL v Keady (Away) at 7pm

Wednesday, May 9: RFL Division 1B v Emyvale (Home) at 7.45pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 3, 10, 12 and 23. Jackpot of €1,800 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Benny McAree c/o Joe Finlay (Hurling Club); €40 Úna O’Neill c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Eugene Greenan c/o Séamus Treanor; €40 Róisín O’Sullivan c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club). Jackpot for Sunday, May 6 is €1,900 and Ann and Kevin Treanor 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.

 

Cake Sale: Our annual fundraising Cake Sale was a great success last Saturday. Great credit is due to the juvenile committee and organisers for their hard work and also to everyone who contributed either by baking or by manning the stand in the Shopping Centre.

 

Upcoming events: There will be a Mass in memory of deceased club members in our clubhouse this Bank Holiday Sunday, May 6, at 7pm. All welcome. Darkness into Light will take place for a fifth time in Monaghan in the early hours of Saturday week, May 12 – please register in advance online.

 

Seniors: We were edged out at home to Magheracloone in the Shoe City Senior Football League last Saturday. We fell four points down after a slow start, but some good scores by Éimhín Morahan brought us back into it and we were just one adrift (0-5 to 0-6) at half-time. Magheracloone moved clear again after the restart, before a Liam Hahessy goal brought us level. Magheracloone netted a penalty, however, and although Michael Galligan and Thomas Croarkin kept us in contention, our lads fell short on a 1-10 to 1-12 scoreline.

Team and scorers: Emmett McArdle; Gareth Treanor, Nicholas Scott (Capt.), Thomas Croarkin (0-1); Aidan Burns, Conor Galligan, Kevin Loughran; Aodhán Óg McAnespie, James McKenna; Dean Fanning, Gary White, Éimhín Morahan (0-4, 3f); Michael Galligan (0-5, 4f), Liam Hahessy (1-0), Francis Lynch.

Subs: Dónal McCarthy for Morahan (black card, 30 mins), Stephen Driver for White (inj.), John Mulligan for McKenna (both 45), Jamie Shields for McCarthy (59).

 

Reserves: Our reserve Division 2B team played twice in the last week, starting off at home to Corduff on Wednesday. A wasteful first-half performance saw us change ends trailing by 0-10 to 0-2. We competed much better in the second half, but without getting the scores we needed until Jason McHugh netted a penalty at the end.

Team: Dylan McAree; Jamie Shields, David Lowry, Niall Ward; Conor Forde (Capt.), Seán Peyton, Pat Meehan; Dylan McKenna, Richard Wilkie; Nathan O’Donoghue, Turlough Clerkin, James Bourke; Morgan McDonagh, Jason McHugh, Colm Shalvey.

Subs: Dónal McCarthy for Peyton, Pauric Murphy for Bourke, Ben Kearns-Flynn for McDonagh, Dessie McGarry for Shalvey, Ruairí Forde for Meehan, Niall Brannigan for Murphy.

We then hosted Éire Óg on Sunday, where we made a strong start, with a Dónal McCarthy goal and good points from the likes of Nathan O’Donoghue and Conor Duffy moving us ahead. A penalty gave Éire Óg the chance to close the gap to the minimum at half-time, however, and they added a second goal after the restart. Despite finishing with 14 men, we rallied, with Jason McHugh’s accuracy from frees keeping us in touch. We fell short, however, on a 1-12 to 2-11 scoreline.

Team: Dylan McAree; Jamie Shields, Aidan Burns, Niall Ward; Conor Forde (Capt.), Thomas Croarkin, Kevin Lyden; Dylan McKenna, Richard Wilkie; Nathan O’Donoghue, Dónal McCarthy, Conor Duffy; Turlough Clerkin, Jason McHugh, Colm Shalvey.

Subs used: Dessie McGarry, Pat Meehan, John Mulligan, Francis Lynch, Ruairí Forde.

In a busy championship weekend for our reserve teams, we host Carrickmacross in the preliminary round of the Crawley Cup on Sunday at 2pm. The RFL Division 1B resumes with another home game against Emyvale next Wednesday at 7.45pm.

 

Minors: Our minor footballers won convincingly against St. Patrick’s in Drumhowan on Tuesday (April 24) by 4-13 to 1-11. This wasn’t enough to secure a top-two place in Division One Group B, so next up for these lads is a championship quarter-final away to Inniskeen after the exam break.

 

U-15: Our U-15 Division One team won away to Cremartin last Thursday. A goal from Jake Power and points by Shay Cooney, Ben Myers, Daragh Croarkin and Liam Conway got us off to a good start and we went on to lead by 1-7 to 0-2 at half-time. Shay added a brace of goals in the third quarter and Ben and Daragh were also on target again to ensure that a late rally from Cremartin wasn’t enough to deny our lads a 3-10 to 1-7 win.

Team and scorers: Karol Parszywka; Jordan Crampton, Tiarnán O’Rourke; Mark McManus, Liam Conway (Capt., 0-1f), Gary Devlin; Daragh Croarkin (0-4, 1f), Kevin Moran; James Curley, Jake Power (1-1), Jamie Coyle; Shay Cooney (2-1), Ben Myers (0-3, 2f).

Subs used: Josh Lavery, Shea Swift, Luke McManus, Michael McMorrow, Conor Treanor, Eoin McCleary.

 

U-14: Our U-14 footballers entered the Féile qualification tournament in Cloghan last Friday. A dominant first-half performance set us up for a 2-7 to 1-3 win over Clontibret, where Luke McManus, Shea Swift, Eoin O’Hanlon, Cian Bradley and Josh Kelly were all on target. Our second group game was against Magheracloone, where we fell four points down before a great goal from Fionán Ó Gallchóir gave us a much-needed lift. Well-worked goals from Luke McManus and Shay Kelly helped us pull away to win that game by 3-6 to 0-5 and top our group. Unfortunately, however, a physically stronger Carrickmacross had too much for our lads in the Division One Final. Well done to all involved for their efforts on the night.

Panel: Karol Parszywka, Shane Moran, Jack Lynch, Jordan Crampton, Michael McMorrow, Gary Devlin, Senan Cudden, Jake McConnon (0-1), Shea Swift (0-2), Josh Kelly (0-2), Ethan Ballantine, Luke McManus (1-8, 0-4f), Seán Callan, Eoin O’Hanlon (1-0), Fionán Ó Gallchóir (1-0), Shay Kelly (1-0), Cian Bradley (1-1), Dáire Conlon, Mark Clerkin, Gregory O’Connell, Morgan Coyle, Oisín Treanor, Oisín Reilly, Jack Garvey.

 

U-13: Our U-13 Division One team lost out away to Truagh on Tuesday (April 24). The rescheduled Division Five game at home to Carrickmacross took place on Monday. Scores from John McCrystal, Dara Mullen, James Gunn, Kyle Cooney, Max Mallen, Dónal Moran and Julian Coyle had our lads in command until a quick-fire burst brought Carrick right back into the game. Our lads regrouped to eventually claim a draw on a scoreline of 4-8 apiece.

Team: Oisín McGeown; Dónal Moran, Fergal Magee; Kyle Cooney, Max Mallen; Jack Corrigan, Ethan McCarron; James Gunn, John McCrystal; Julian Coyle, Dara Mullen.

Sub used: Rohann Malocca-McKenna.

Our Division One team host Scotstown this Saturday at 12 noon, while the Division Five game is away to Castleblayney at 2.30pm.

 

U-11: Our U-11 teams continued the Spring League with a double-header away to Donaghmoyne last Saturday, with honours even over the two games. Well done to all involved.

 

County: Good luck to Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh, Lochlainn Power and the county minor footballers in this Saturday’s Ulster MFC game away to Antrim.

 

Membership: Registration fees for 2018 are now overdue and can be paid to club registrar Kevin Treanor or in the clubhouse. Fees are €20 for players up to and including U-11; €30 for all other players and members and €60 for a family membership. Please note that all players must be paid-up members to be insured for 2018.

 

Dates to remember: There will be a Mass in memory of deceased club members in our clubhouse this Sunday, May 6, at 7pm. Darkness into Light will take place for a fifth time in Monaghan on Saturday week, May 12, with registration open online now. The Ladies Club’s Abbey Fanning Tournament is scheduled for June 9. Our 2018 Golf Classic is scheduled for Friday, June 8.

 

Sponsor a Seat: To celebrate and promote the continued development of our facilities at Gavan Duffy Park, we are offering the unique opportunity to sponsor/dedicate a seat in our stand at a cost of €50. See our club website (monaghanharps.gaa.ie) or contact Club Secretary Val Forde (secretary.monaghanharps.monaghan@gaa.ie) or any committee member for more details.

 

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 Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 or Pádraig Callan on 087 2543511 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-13: Our U-13s opened up their league campaign with a positive win over Truagh and will follow this with an away trip to Keady next Monday. Preparation continues for Féile 2018, which will take place on June 8-10 in Connacht. Training continues every Sunday between 12 noon and 1.30pm.

 

U-15: The U-15 squad had a tough away trip to East Cavan Gaels in their opening league fixture. Despite the loss, there were great performances from Liam Conway (captain), Aidan Cunningham in goals and Daragh Croarkin and a match debut for Gary Treanor also. This was followed up with another away trip to Carrick on Monday. Despite a good start, we fell on a 5-9 to 4-6 scoreline. Excellent performances from Mark McManus and Gary Treanor in the full-back line offers plenty promise for the games to come. Gary Devlin swept up a lot of loose ball in the half-back line, while Liam Conway (1-0) battled hard with their most attacking player. Aidan McKenna put in a top performance, accounting for 1-6 of the Harps total, with Jack McDonald contributing a further goal. James Brady and Ethan Ballantine came off the bench to add some flair to the forwards also as the Harps pushed to take at least a share of the spoils. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be and the Harps now look ahead to hosting Cootehill on May 14 at 6.30pm.

 

Seniors: The Harps opened up the Development League on Thursday last with a home fixture against Clontibret. Despite a good start, a Clontibret goal midway through the half put them into a lead that they would maintain and build on over the remainder of the game to finish on a 1-9 to 3-13 scoreline.

Team: Cillian Sherry, Dylan McAree, John Treanor, Michael Gissane, Patrick Meehan, Jack Lee, Cathal Power, Niall McManus, Gabe McQuillan, Luke Mulligan, Seán Conway, Adrian Dalton, Alan Ryan, Maurice McKenna.