Fixtures: Friday, May 17: RFC Crawley Cup v Doohamlet (Away) at 7.30pm

Saturday, May 18: U-11 Spring League v Carrickmacross (Home) at 12pm & 1pm

Tuesday, May 21: U-17 FL Division One v Donaghmoyne (Away) at 7pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 5, 18, 21 and 25. Jackpot of €1,700 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Ethan Grant c/o Ann Treanor; €40 Séamus McManus (direct debit) c/o Owen Connell; €40 Noreen Corbett c/o senior footballers; €40 Melissa Hall c/o senior footballers. Jackpot for Sunday, May 19 is €1,800 and Gráinne and Owen Connell 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 has now played a critical role in our club’s funding for 25 years.

 

DIL: We were proud to host Electric Ireland Darkness into Light Monaghan for the sixth time in the early hours of last Saturday morning, May 11. A crowd of around 2,000 people took part in the main fundraiser for Pieta House, the centre for the prevention of self-harm/suicide. There was a special atmosphere throughout the 5km route on a cold but dry morning. Thanks and credit must go to all our club members and all the volunteers 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 Síochána, Civil Defence & Monaghan Municipal District Council for their help in organising the walk. See photos and report elsewhere. The date for the planting of this year’s Memory Tree will be arranged in the next few weeks.

 

Seniors: We lost narrowly away to Aughnamullen in the Monaghan Electrical Intermediate Football League last Sunday. After a slow start that saw us fall four points down, scores from Éimhín Morahan, Liam Hahessy and Oisín Fagan kept us in touch and the gap was down to two (0-8 to 0-6) by half-time. Aughnamullen got the opening goal after the restart when a hand-pass found its way into our net, but we hit back through Dean Fanning and Éimhín, who added a fine solo goal to edge us ahead for the first time inside the final quarter. Aughnamullen rallied again, however, and although Shane Smyth brought us level inside added time, two late points gave the hosts a 1-16 to 1-14 win.

Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon; Conor Duffy, Kevin Loughran, Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh; John Mulligan, Aodhán Óg McAnespie (Capt.), Thomas Croarkin; Dylan McKenna, James McKenna; Oisín Fagan (0-2), Lochlainn Power, Dean Fanning (0-1f); Liam Hahessy (0-5, 3f), Éimhín Morahan (1-5, 0-1 ‘45), Shane McMahon.

Subs: Shane Smyth (0-1) for Power (H-T), Conn O’Hanlon for Croarkin (42 mins), Michael Galligan for Mulligan (inj., 51), Niall Greenan for McMahon (57), Niall McManus for Fagan (60).

Our next IFL game is at home to Magheracloone on Friday week, May 24.

 

Reserves: We enter the Crawley Cup championship with a quarter-final away to Doohamlet this Friday at 7.30pm.

 

Minors: The latest round of the U-17 Football League Division One was brought forward to Tuesday evening (May 14), when we had a home game against Latton. We travel to Donaghmoyne next Tuesday for a 7pm throw-in.

 

U-15: Our U-15 Division One team returned to winning ways at home to Castleblayney last Thursday. Our lads’ goal-scoring touch proved decisive in a tight game that finished 5-4 to 1-13 in our favour. We send best wishes to the Castleblayney player who suffered an unfortunate injury during this game. Our Division Four team finished on the right side of a high-scoring shoot-out at home to Corduff on Monday, winning on a scoreline of 7-14 to 3-18.

 

U-13: Our U-13 Division One team’s next game is at home to Truagh on Monday week (May 27).

 

U-11: Our U-11s host Carrickmacross in the Spring League this Saturday at 12 noon and 1pm.

 

Handball: Congratulations to Eoghan McGinnity and Seán Callan on their All-Ireland handball success last Sunday.

 

Coaching: Our Saturday-morning coaching for our youngest players is up and running for 2019. The club is very fortunate to have a pool of hardworking and dedicated individuals who look after and coach these “early learners”. Our Saturday-morning activities are fun-filled and enjoyed by the children and are an equally rewarding and enjoyable experience to those who help make it happen, so we encourage anyone with an interest to get involved. Well done to our U-7s who took part in last Saturday’s blitz in Cloghan.

 

Registration: Registration fees for 2019 are now overdue but can still be paid to club registrar Kevin Treanor or in the clubhouse. Please note that all juvenile and adult players must be paid-up members. Fees are as follows: U-11s €20; juveniles/seniors €30; family membership €60.

 

County: Good luck to Neil McAdam and the Monaghan senior footballers in Saturday’s Ulster SFC opener against Cavan.

 

Clubhouse: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Please contact Paudge Connolly on 085 8589135 or Rose Donnelly on 086 0825782 for more information. Anyone looking to book the clubhouse for meetings, functions, etc. is asked to please give a week’s notice for convenience.

 

Pitches: Training schedules for all teams are in place. Coaches are asked to please ensure that gates and dressing rooms are locked, all equipment, bottles etc. is removed from the pitch after training sessions.

 

Hurling: We hosted Truagh last Thursday last round three of the Silver Hill Foods Development League. In what was a changed team from the previous game, the Harps welcomed Ciarán McQuaid and Cónall McKenna back into the fold. A slow start meant that the Harps found themselves 1-3 down before registering a score of their own through Maurice McKenna. In truth, the margin could have been wider at this stage but for some resolute defending coupled with Truagh spurning some chances. The Harps upped their game in the second half and Truagh found their chances harder to come by, as well as the Harps creating much more of their own. While Truagh always had enough of a lead to hold the Harps at arm’s length, a point from Maurice McKenna and a goal from Alan Ryan in the 43rd minute offered some hope of a fightback. However, with the Harps registering only one further score in the half through Brendan McQuaid, Truagh held on for a 2-8 to 1-3 win.

Team and scorers: Seamus McLoughlin; Dylan McAree, Conor Devlin; Thomas Croarkin, John Treanor, Anthony Greenan; Maurice McKenna (0-2), Brendan McQuaid (0-1); Luke Mulligan, Ciarán McQuaid, Cónall McKenna; Lee Treanor, Andrew Mooney.

Subs: Alan Ryan (1-0) for Devlin.

 

Ladies: Well done to Harps minors Sarah Warman and Emma Corrigan, who were part of the county minors’ Ulster final success v Donegal.

U-14s: Round three of the Division Two League at home to Carrickmacross B next Tuesday at 7pm.

 

Website: Our new club website is now live. See www.monaghanharps.gaa.ie to keep up to date with our latest club news and fixtures.

 

O’Neills: A range of Harps gear can now be bought online from O’Neills website. See the club’s social-media pages for the link.

 

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