Fixtures: Thursday, August 2: U-11 v Scotstown (Home) at 6.30pm & 7.30pm

Sunday, August 5: SHC Shield Final: St. Macartan’s v Carrickmacross in Clontibret at 1pm

Monday, August 6: U-15 HL v Carrickmacross (Home) at 7.30pm

Tuesday, August 7: U-13 FL Division Five v Carrickmacross (Away) at 7.15pm

Wednesday, August 8: U-11 v Corduff (Away) at 7 & 8pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 8, 9, 13 and 28. Jackpot of €3,100 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Paul Kelly c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club); €40 Martin O’Donnell c/o Jim Dalton (Hurling Club); €40 John Frank McKenna (Tír na nÓg) c/o Pádraig Callan; €40 Claire Burns c/o Jim Dalton (Hurling Club). Jackpot for Sunday, August 5 is €3,200. 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.

 

Seniors: We earned a narrow 2-9 to 1-9 win away to Magheracloone in the Shoe City Senior Football League last Saturday evening. We fell five points down after conceding an early goal, but points by Éimhín Morahan and Liam Hahessy and a Francis Lynch goal left us within one (1-4 to 1-5) by half-time. The scores remained tight throughout the second half, with Éimhín and Liam adding to their tallies, before Stephen Driver drilled home our all-important second goal ten minutes from time. The remaining five games are all five-point fixtures. There is a round set for next Wednesday, but the upcoming schedule depends on the county senior team’s progress.

Team and scorers: Emmett McArdle; Thomas Croarkin, Aidan Burns, Niall Ward; Niall McManus, Gareth Treanor, David Lowry; Gary White, Nicholas Scott (Capt.); Dean Fanning, Éimhín Morahan (0-6, 4f), Dylan McKenna; Liam Hahessy (0-3, 1f), Stephen Driver (1-0), Shane Smyth.

Subs: Francis Lynch (1-0) for White (inj., 6 mins), Conor Galligan for McManus (51 mins).

Temporary sub: Niall Hahessy for Ward (27-H-T).

 

Reserves: The Platinum Tanks Reserve Championship O’Duffy Cup Final took place in Truagh last Wednesday. A succession of near misses in front of goal didn’t help our chances in this game, where Scotstown built on an early lead to run out winners. 1-2 from Éimhín Morahan was all we could manage in the opening half, while the second half saw Dylan McKenna punch to the net, either side of points by Shane McMahon and Shane Coyle. Scotstown were quicker off the mark in both halves as they proved too strong on the night.

Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon; Thomas Croarkin, David Lowry, Jamie Shields; John Mulligan, James McKenna, Niall McManus; Dylan McKenna (1-0), Aidan Burns; Niall Ward, Éimhín Morahan (Capt., 1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-1f), Francis Lynch; Shane McMahon (0-1), Shane Coyle (0-1), Conor McCrystal.

Subs: Carl Foentjies for Ward, Conor Duffy for Lynch, Niall Treanor for McManus.

We were back in action last night (Wednesday) in the RFL Division 1B semi-final at home to Killanny. Check online for result.

 

U-17: Our U-17s are competing in the summer competition in Cloghan as they await the start of their league.

 

U-15: In a busy week for our U-15 Division Five team, we hosted Ballybay in the championship on Friday. We made a great start to this game with a goal from Karol Parszywka and a string of points by Luke McManus and Dylan McClave, only for Ballybay to rally to close the gap to two (1-7 to 2-2) by the end of the first half. A quick brace of goals put Ballybay ahead and although we responded, led by Gary Devlin and with Josh Kelly joining Luke on the scoresheet, the visitors struck for a late winning point to edge the result by 4-6 to 1-14.

Team and scorers: Oisín Reilly; Jordan Crampton, Jake McConnon; Gregory O’Connell, Gary Devlin (Capt.); Ben Myers, Josh Lavery; Josh Kelly (0-1f), Dylan McClave (0-2); Luke McManus (0-11), Karol Parszywka (1-0).

Subs used: Conor Treanor, Eoin McCleary.

It was back to league action on Sunday away to Seán McDermotts. We had eight scorers in this closely-contested game, where this time we finished on the right side of a 2-12 to 2-8 scoreline. Goals by Ben Myers and Conor Treanor helped us go in level at 2-4 to 1-7, with Josh Lavery, Josh Kelly and Luke McManus also on target. Luke, Ben, Dylan McClave, Gary Devlin and Jordan Crampton kicked points in the second half to see us gain an important win.

Team and scorers: Jake McConnon; Jordan Crampton (0-1), Gary Devlin (0-1); Gregory O’Connell, Josh Lavery (Capt., 0-1); Ben Myers (1-1), Karol Parszywka; Luke McManus (0-5, 1f), Dylan McClave (0-1); Josh Kelly (0-1), Conor Treanor (1-1).

Sub used: Eoin McCleary.

Our next Division Five game is away to Ballybay next Thursday (August 9), while the Division One Championship Final against Donaghmoyne has yet to be scheduled.

 

U-13: Our U-13 Division One team lost out at home to Clones last Saturday. An understrength team had depleted numbers for this game and lost on a scoreline of 1-3 to 2-8. The Championship Final against Carrickmacross will have to be refixed for later this month. Our Division Five/Six Championship winners returned to league action at home to Castleblayney on Tuesday evening and they play again next Tuesday away to Carrick.

 

U-11: Our U-11 teams continue the Liam Stirrat Development League with a double-header at home to Scotstown this evening (Thursday), while they are due to travel to Corduff next Wednesday. Well done to all involved last Saturday as our U-11s won the John Treanor Cup in Truagh. Our young players dug in to go all the way to the Cup Final, where they saw off Castleblayney. Thanks to Truagh for their hospitality.

 

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), Chairman Jimmy Croarkin (087 1249635) or any committee member for more details. Please note that the deadline for sponsoring a seat is upon us so please return cards as soon as possible.

 

County: Well done to team captain Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh, Lochlainn Power and the Monaghan minor footballers on a great win in last Saturday’s All-Ireland MFC Quarter-Final against Kildare. Good luck to Neil McAdam and the county seniors in this Saturday’s crucial All-Ireland SFC game against Galway in Salthill.

 

Summer Camps: Our own Harps Summer Camp is coming up on the week of August 20-24.

 

Handball: Good luck to the young Harps handballers taking part in the World Championships in Minneapolis from next week.

 

Dates to remember: Our Family Fun Day and Mick Farrell Tournament are scheduled for August 18 and 25, respectively. Our own Harps Summer Camp is set for August 20-24.

 

Clubhouse: 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 bowed out of the league at the semi-final stage last Monday evening in Castleblayney. In what can only be described as a game of two halves, we started well but Castleblayney got a firm grip on the game with early scores owing in particular to a strong performance from their full forward line. The second-half introduction of Seán Callan saw an added impetus to our team who dominated the half. Goals from Jack McDonald and scores from Cian Bradley and Seán saw us pull it back, but Castleblayney held strong and added a few scores to their tally late on to cement the win.

Team: Oisín McGeown, Oisín McPhillips, Rylan McCooey, Oisín Connolly, Cian Bradley, James Brady, Oisín Murray, Jonas Alexis, Nicholas Sherlock, Ethan Ballantine, Enda Brady, Matthew McGuinness, Jack McDonald, Odhrán Connolly. Tiarnach Connolly, Seán Callan.

 

U-15: With attention focused on the league, we were at home to Cootehill on Wednesday. This will be followed by a home tie against Carrick on Monday, August 6 at 7.30pm. Good luck to panel member Sean Callan in the upcoming world handball competitions in Minneapolis which begin on August 9.

 

Senior: Saint Macartan’s qualified for the Silver Hill Foods Championship Shield Final last Thursday, despite a three-point loss to Castleblayney in Truagh. Both teams cancelled each other out in the opening five minutes, with neither registering a score before Castleblayney gave themselves the perfect platform as they converted 1-1 without reply. From here on, the match followed a score-for-score pattern, with nothing more than a couple of scores separating the teams for the most part. This tight physical encounter really took off when Matthew Flood converted two goal chances midway through the second half to level matters up. However, a string of Blayney frees, one ending in a goal, allowed them to extend their lead again. An Aidan Burns goal with five minutes to go closed the gap again but with Macartan’s failing to capitalise on any of the three goal chances that came their way in the closing stages, Castleblayney finished 2-17 to 3-11 winners. However, with Clontibret losing to Carrick on the same evening this ensured our qualification for the Shield Final. This will take place this Sunday in Clontibret, where we will take on Carrick with a 1pm throw-in. Good luck to the squad and management.

 

Juvenile Coaching: Coaching for juveniles continues every Sunday in Rooskey between 12 noon and 1.30pm.