Fixtures: Wednesday, June 8: SFL v Ballybay (Home) at 8pm
Thursday, June 9: RHL v Inniskeen (Away) at 8pm
Friday, June 10: JFC Blackhill v Emyvale at Gavan Duffy Park at 7.30pm
Sunday, June 11: SFL v Inniskeen (Home) at 4pm
IFC Currin v Rockcorry at Gavan Duffy Park at 1.30pm
Tuesday, June 14: Under-14 FL Division Five v Currin (Home) at 6.45pm
Under-14 FL Division One v Seán McDermotts (Home) at 8pm
Wednesday, June 15: SFL v Clontibret (Away) at 8pm
Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 1, 8, 9 and 17. Jackpot of €2,950 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Maureen O’Donoghue c/o Michael O’Donoghue; €40 Shae Treanor c/o Mick Farrell; €40 Pat McElvaney c/o Eileen McElvaney; €40 Laura & Nicola Byrne c/o Nicholas Treanor. Jackpot for Sunday, June 12 is €3,100. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.
SFL: The seniors have a busy week ahead of them. They are away to Ballybay tomorrow night (Wednesday), at home to Inniskeen on Sunday and away to Clontibret next Wednesday. All support is welcome for both of these important league games. Keep an eye on www.monaghanharps.gaa.ie for results and reports.
Meetings: The club’s monthly meeting for June takes place in the clubhouse on Thursday, immediately after the juvenile meeting which starts at 7.15pm.
Reserves: The O’Duffy Cup team had a 0-15 to 0-9 win at home to Donaghmoyne in the championship last Wednesday. Two points from Liam Hahessy and one each from Bernie Murphy and John McCoy gave us a 0-4 to 0-1 half-time lead. The scores came easier in the second half, with Ashley White, Liam, Paul Rushe, Bernie, John and Peter Coyle all on target to lead us through to the quarter-finals.
Team and scorers: Daniel Duffy; Fionntán Cassidy, Ronan Garvey, Conn O’Hanlon (Capt.); Conor Devlin, Brian Driver, Pat Murphy; Peter Coyle (0-1), Niall McKenna; Paul Kelly, Paul Rushe (0-1), Ashley White (0-5, 4f); Liam Hahessy (0-4f), John McCoy (0-2), Bernie Murphy (0-2).
Subs: Aidan Connell for Kelly, David Loughran for Murphy.
The Crawley Cup team fell to a 3-15 to 0-8 defeat away to Scotstown on Friday. We were always facing an uphill battle after conceding two early goals against a strong Scotstown side.
Team and scorers: Jimmy Croarkin; Fionntán Cassidy (Capt.), Johnny Sherry, Aidan Connell; Séamus Brannigan, Pat Murphy, Mickey Buckley; Conn O’Hanlon (0-1), Brian Driver (0-1); Paul Kelly (0-3, 1f), Mark Mulhall (0-1), Ciarán O’Connell; David Loughran, Bernie Murphy (0-2), Pat Meehan.
Subs: Raymond Lee for O’Connell (inj.), Darren Smyth for Meehan, Colm Shalvey for Connell (inj.).
Championship games: We host two championship games at Gavan Duffy Park this weekend. On Friday evening, Emyvale play Blackhill in the JFC at 7.30, while Currin play Rockcorry in the IFC on Sunday at 1.30. Stewards are asked to assemble at least an hour before throw-in for both games. All help would be much appreciated.
U-12: On Saturday last our Under-12 Division One team took part in the Newry Mitchels Annual U-12 football blitz. This, being the biggest U-12 tournament in Ireland, consisted of 40 teams from all over Ulster and Leinster. Our lads were drawn in a group with Aughlisnafin and RGU Downpatrick from Down, Kilcullen (Kildare) and Castlederg (Tyrone). Having won the first three of these matches, our lads then faced group favourites Castlederg for a place in the Cup quarter-finals. The lads played some of their best football in this game, marking Castlederg tightly and playing some great passing football, in the end winning by 1-10 to 0-3. Next was a quarter-final game against county neighbours Armagh Harps which the lads won by 0-7 to 0-2 to book a place in the semis. Awaiting us here was Cúchulainn Gaels from Louth. This finished our participation in the tournament with a contentious decision in a match which the Harps were convinced they had won. A final place was not to be. Although disappointed, the lads and their mentors Michael O’Donoghue and Thomas McCabe can be proud of their determination, skill and character in getting themselves to the last four of such a prestigious tournament, all playing superb football on the day.
Team: Aidan Burns, Anthony Greenan, Ben Kearns-Flynn, Colin Peppard, Dylan McAree, Ethan Murphy, James Bourke, Michael Mulligan, Nathan O’Donoghue, Niall Ward, Naoise Deeney, Oisin Power, Soky John, Thomas Croarkin, Ultan O’Rourke, Shane McCabe and Lochlainn Power.
U-14: The Under-14 Division One footballers lost out at home to Donaghmoyne last Tuesday. The lads were in contention for most of the game, but Donaghmoyne pulled away in the final quarter.
The Division Five team played out a 2-9 to 4-3 draw at home to Clontibret. The boys recovered from giving away two goals to play some good football, with Naoise Deeney, Ultan O’Rourke and Grazvydas playing particularly well. Ultan’s goal had our lads in front at half-time, but Clontibret found the net twice in the third quarter. A late goal by Ben Kearns-Flynn edged the Harps ahead, but Clontibret got a point to equalise.
Team and scorers: Dylan McAree, Jordan Clerkin, Naoise Deeney (0-2), Ultan O’Rourke (1-0), Grazvydas Simulis, Ben Kearns-Flynn (1-1), Paul Peppard (0-2), Kevin Hall (0-1), Marcus Meehan (0-1).
Subs used: Ruairí Forde (0-1), Aidan Burns (0-1).
Both Under-14 teams have home games next Tuesday evening. The Division One team play Seán McDermotts at 8pm after the Division Five game against Currin, which throws in at 6.45.
Cúl Camp: The VHI GAA Cúl Camp at Gavan Duffy Park takes place from July 11-15, featuring football, hurling, camogie and handball. The camp supervisor is Ann McKenna. See www.monaghanharps.gaa.ie for more information.
Over-35s: This team had an impressive start to the season with a fluid display of football on Thursday last against Scotstown. Martin Sheridan showed he lost none of hunger over the winter, up front Paul Conlon rattled in a goal and a good point, with brother Finbarr chalking up five points in the second half. Ciarán Cuddy, Damien O’Leary and Dessie McGarry all made the game look so easy. Training will commence on Friday at 7pm and everyone is welcome.
Sympathy: The club offers sincere sympathy to Hugh McKenna and family on the death of Hugh’s sister Annette McKenna/Condra.
Ulster SFC: Hard luck to the county senior footballers on their unfortunate defeat to Tyrone last Sunday. Our own Conor Galligan made his championship debut, while Neil McAdam got his first SFC start and both acquitted themselves well. We hope Neil, Conor, David Hughes and Shane Smyth can all play a part in getting Monaghan back on track in the qualifiers.
Aido File: Best wishes to all club members involved in the Leaving Certificate. Rumour has it Gavin Baxter has a unique career path after the exam as he is already accepted for a position in clown college.
By michael Tue 7th Jun
