Monaghan Harps notes (June 28)

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 7, 8, 12 and 22. Jackpot of €3,400 won by Helen Hahessy c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club). Congratulations to Helen. Jackpot for Sunday, July 3 is €1,000. All welcome. The lotto rota for July is as follows. July 3: Mary and Fergus Coyle; July 10: Maria and Hugh McKenna; July 17: Liz and Dermot Brannigan; July 24: Mary McRory, Una Forde and Rose Donnelly; July 31: Monica and Paudge Connolly.

SFL: The senior footballers have a home league game against Castleblayney tomorrow (Friday) at 8pm. All support welcome. The seniors have two more league games against Doohamlet and Latton before the championship preliminary round against Ballybay on July 24. 

Flag Day: Many thanks to everyone who helped out and donated to the juvenile club’s annual collection last weekend, which raised much-needed funds for the club.

Cúl Camp: The VHI GAA Cúl Camp at Gavan Duffy Park takes place from July 11-15, featuring football, hurling, camogie and handball and catering for boys and girls aged between 5 and 13. The cost is €55 per child, €50 for the second child from the same family and €45 for the third child. The camp supervisor is Ann McKenna, who can be contacted at 087 7580150. 

SHC: After qualifying for the Reserve Hurling League Final, the Harps hurlers turn their attention to the senior championship, where they play Truagh in Emyvale on Sunday at 1.30.

Aido File: Congratulations to our Féile team who had a very successful weekend in Galway and enjoyed every second of it. From the moment we landed all involved were made feel at home by the hospitality of Mountbellew/Moylough club as our lads made friends for life, male and female! On the pitch we lost our opening game and then beat Skehana of Galway which put us into a must-win game against Lisbellaw. Our luck ran out however in an unfortunate loss. Over the weekend to single out any of the 23 hurlers on the pitch would be unfair as all played their part. Cathal Power, Lowry, Flynn, Duffy and Rico could be singled out on the dance floor however!! A big thank you must go to the team mentors and sponsors, our host club and the volume of supporters who travelled the three hours and withstood the wind and rain. 

Reserves: The O’Duffy Cup team exited the championship at the quarter-final stage with a five-point defeat at home to Latton last Wednesday. We trailed by 0-5 to 0-6 at half-time, with Liam Hahessy (two), John McCoy, Gary Murray and Nicholas Treanor scoring our points. We were still well in contention until the closing stages, with Paul Kelly, Philip Drohan, Gary and John on target, but Latton pulled away to win by 0-14 to 0-9.

Team and scorers: Conall McKenna; Fionntán Cassidy, Ronan Garvey, Johnny Sherry; Conn O’Hanlon (Capt.), Conor Devlin, Brian Driver; Philip Drohan (0-1), Paul Rushe; Pat Murphy, Nicholas Treanor (0-1), Gary Murray (0-2); Liam Hahessy (0-2, 1f), John McCoy (0-2), Paul Kelly (0-1).

Subs: Ado Connell for Sherry, Paddy Kelly for Driver, Bernie Murphy for P Murphy, Séamus Brannigan for Cassidy.

The O’Duffy Cup team have a league game against Magheracloone tomorrow night (Wednesday). 

Minors: The minor footballers return after the exam break with a league game against Clontibret tonight (Tuesday). The first round of the championship has been postponed, but the lads are away to St. Pat’s (Ballybay/Drumhowan) next Tuesday.

U-21: The Under-21s started their defence of the Division One title with a 3-12 to 1-10 defeat away to Castleblayney on Monday. They are at home to Donaghmoyne on Sunday – note change of date. 

U-16: The Under-16 footballers returned after the exam break with a 2-13 to 1-9 win at home to Killanny last Thursday. Goals by David Carey and Tiarnan Bramley, six points from Fearghal McMahon and a point by Jason McHugh had the Harps ahead by 2-7 to 0-4 at half-time, having played with the wind at their backs. Fearghal added four points in the second half to take his tally to ten, while Kevin Loughran and Jason were also on target, leaving a late goal for Killanny too little to affect the result.

Team and scorers: James Keelaghan; Niall Duffy, Ciarán McQuaid, James McKenna; Conor Burns, Niall Treanor, Tiarnan Bramley (1-0); Kevin Loughran (0-1), Turlough Clerkin; Mustafa Admed (Capt.), Fearghal McMahon (0-10, 3f), Evan Morahan; David Carey (1-0), Jason McHugh (0-2), Francis Lynch.

Subs: Pauric Coyle for Carey, Ahmed Gamal for Duffy, Brendan Smyth for Morahan, Conor O’Neill for Lynch.

The Under-16s are away to Scotstown this evening (Thursday).

U-14: Both Under-14 football teams were in action on Monday evening. The Division One team won by 2-15 to 1-8, while the Division Five team lost by 4-8 to 3-7. The next Under-14 games are fixed for July 17.

U-12: The Under-12 Division One team beat Carrickmacross last Tuesday and they make the long trip to Killanny this Saturday for a noon throw-in. 

O-35: The Over-35s lost to Shercock in the Clontibret recreational tournament last Sunday. They are also entered into a tournament in Scotstown, so training will continue in the coming weeks.

Club Harps: Our new fundraising scheme is ‘Club Harps’, which presents a unique opportunity to invest in Monaghan Harps to maintain our central place in the community. It is targeted at past, present and future members of the club, seeking an investment in the maintenance and development of our facilities. Contact any committee member for more information. 

Hard luck: To the county senior footballers and our own representatives on their defeat to Offaly.

Handball: We wish good luck to our four players in the National One-Wall tournament this weekend in Castlebar, Co Mayo. They are: Terry McElvaney, Ramunas, Ryan Mooney and Caileán Myles. Ryan and Caileán compete in the Under-12 group while Ramunas will compete in the Under-16 section. As a result of such an important weekend there will be no handball at Rooskey this weekend. However, we hosted a County One-Wall session last Saturday at our new courts. While the weather was unkind on the day, we still had a number of players throughout the day who enjoyed a first introduction to this new handball code.