Monaghan Harps notes (April 19)

Saturday, April 23: SFL v Latton (Home) at 6pm

Under-14 FL Division One v Scotstown (Away) at 1.15pm

Under-14 Division Five v Scotstown (Away) at 12pm

Sunday, April 24: RFL Division Four v Fergal O’Hanlons (Away) at 12pm

Tuesday, April 26: MFL Division One v Emyvale (Away) at 7pm

Wednesday, April 27: RFL Division One v Latton (Home) at 7.15pm

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 5, 14, 17 and 25. Jackpot of €1,900 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Frank Farrell c/o Mick Farrell; €40 Cecil Corbett c/o Séamus Treanor; €40 Marion O’Brien c/o Ashley White; €40 Jim Egan c/o Paddy Donnelly. Jackpot for Sunday, April 24 is €2,050. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

SFL: The senior footballers started their Credit Union Senior Football League campaign with a 1-14 to 0-9 win away to Doohamlet last Sunday. Points from Donal Hahessy (three), Dean Fanning (two), Emmett McArdle, Nicholas Scott and Gary White had the Harps ahead by 0-8 to 0-6 at half-time and our lads pulled away midway through the second half with 1-2 in a row – the goal coming from Emmett. The seniors have a home game against Clontibret tomorrow night (Wednesday), while Latton are the visitors to Gavan Duffy Park on Saturday evening.

Team and scorers: Mark Hughes; Mark McCaughey, Stephen Driver, Conor Galligan; David Hughes, Shane Smyth, Gareth Treanor; Peter Coyle, Neil McAdam (0-1); Nicholas Scott (0-2), Nicholas Treanor, Gary White (0-1); Donal Hahessy (0-4), Dean Fanning (Capt., 0-3), Emmett McArdle (1-3).

Subs: Liam Hahessy for N Treanor, Niall Hahessy for Coyle, Ashley White for McCaughey, Paul Kelly for McArdle.

Reserves: The O’Duffy Cup team lost to Cremartin last Wednesday by three points in the Platinum Tanks RFL Division One. With Liam Hahessy in fine form, we were level at 0-5 each at half-time and the teams continued to trade points through most of the second half, but Cremartin hit the last three points to win by 0-12 to 0-9.

Team and scorers: Mark Hughes; Fionntán Cassidy, Ashley White, Pat Murphy; Gary Trappe, Gareth Treanor, Johnny Sherry; Peter Coyle (Capt.), Philip Drohan; Paul Kelly (0-1), Paul Rushe (0-1), Ado Connell; Gary Murray, Bernie Murphy, Liam Hahessy (0-7, 3f).
Sub: Conor Devlin for Rushe (inj).

The Crawley Cup team have a local derby away to Fergal O’Hanlons in the RFL Division Four on Sunday, while the O’Duffy Cup team are at home to Latton next Wednesday evening.

U-16: The club’s Under-16 team started their FL Division One with a 0-13 to 2-5 win away to Killanny last Sunday. They have a home game against neighbours Scotstown tonight (Thursday) at 7.

U-14: Both Under-14 football teams are away to Scotstown this Saturday. The Division Five game throws in at 12 noon, while the Division One team get underway at 1.15.

U-12: The club’s two Under-12 football teams played their first game of the Spring Series away to Emyvale last Saturday.

The Division One team were well up for what was a physically fought game, taking the lead early and holding this lead right to final whistle. The Harps won with a score of 0-13 to Emyvale’s 0-5.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree, Ultan O’Rourke, Soky John, Colin Peppard, Niall Ward, Ethan Murphy (0-1), Naoise Deeney, Conor McCrystal (0-4), Ben Kearns-Flynn (0-1), Michael Mulligan (0-6), Nathan O’Donoghue (0-1), Oisín Power, Anthony Greenan.

In the Division Three game, the Harps played some lovely football from the throw-in.  Scores flowed from the boots of Corey McArdle, Aaron Coyle, Dylan Maguire, Seán Conway and Kelvin Cawley, who hit two points each in the first period, helping the Harps to take a 0-10 to 0-4 lead. The game continued in the same vein in the second period and further scores from Aaron Coyle (three) Kelvin Cawley (two) Corey McArdle (two) and one each from Dylan Maguire and Matthew Sweeney left the final score 0-19 to 0-8 in favour of the Harps.

For the third quarter, all our younger players came on to get their first taste of “real” football and on the display put on here the future looks very bright for our club. Well done to all 25 players involved and keep up the effort at training.

Team and scorers: Lochlainn Power; Seán McKenna, Dáire Martin; Adam O’Neill, Shane McCabe; Seán Conway (0-2), Corey McArdle (0-4); Dylan Maguire (0-3), Aaron Coyle (0-5); Kelvin Cawley (0-4), Stephen Ward.

Subs: Zach Mallon, Ryan McKenna, Matthew Sweeney (0-1), Cian O’Leary, Nealis Barvydas, Nedis Seniunas, Cillian McAdam, Killian Conlon, Oran Meehan, Brendan Óg Duffy, Killian Treanor, Jamie Hamill, Luke Coyle, Jamie Myles.

Well done: Well done and hard luck to Kevin Loughran and John Mulligan, who were part of the St. Macartan’s College team that lost to St. Pat’s, Maghera in the Brock Cup Final last Saturday and to Neil McAdam who was part of the management team. Belated congrats to Gary White for helping IT Sligo to All-Ireland junior colleges success and to Adam Cullen, who was also on the panel.

Sympathy: At last week’s monthly meeting, votes of sympathy were passed to Rose Donnelly on the death of her brother Colm O’Reilly and Martin McEntee on the death of his brother Oliver.

Upcoming events: There will be music in the clubhouse on Saturday week (April 30), while we host Monaghan Arch Club on Thursday, May 5.

Medal found: A medal from last year’s Under-13 Street League has been found. If you have lost this medal, contact Mick Farrell or any committee member.

Aido File: An in-form Harps Under-14 hurling squad beat Castleblayney on Monday night to progress to the Féile final. In a tight first half, the Harps failed to capitalise on possession, putting them under pressure going in the second half. However, fitness levels and a more clinical approach to possession saw us slowly but surely pull away. Seán Grant and Dylan McAree dealt well with any pressure and Cathal Power drove back Blayney attack after attack. In midfield, Rico Treanor was a workhorse while David Lowry constantly seemed be the right place at the right time. Up front, Niall McManus and Mark Murphy moved through the opposition defence like a hot knife through butter at times but praise must go to Conor Flynn and Ciarán Cassidy who accounted for 5-9 between them. Players and members alike are asked to note a juvenile fundraising table quiz next Thursday, April 28, in the clubhouse at 7.30.

Handball: While the handball season is over for most of our players, spare a thought for Terry McElvaney, who plays his All-Ireland Minor Doubles Final in Kingscourt this Saturday at 3pm. It is a great honour for Terry and his playing partner Christopher to be on the same programme as Michael Finnegan, Tom Sheridan, Brian Carroll and Paul Brady, who made history last week when he won his eighth Senior title. Monaghan’s opponents are Patrick Herlihy and Killian Carroll from Cork. The task facing Monaghan is formidable given that Killian Carroll was in devastating form in the Minor Singles Final last week in Abbeylara. Terry has also entered Section A in the Irish Nationals which take place in Wexford on Saturday, April 30. The Challenger 2 league is now down to the knockout stages with Caileán, Conor, Justas and Jakub into the playoffs. 

Easter Camps: The Monaghan GAA Farney Academy Coaching Easter camps take place in Scotstown and Ballybay. Places are still available for the three-day camps, which run from Tuesday to Thursday targeting boys and girls aged between five and ten and costing €40 for one child and €35 for additional children from the same family.