Fixtures: Wednesday, May 23: RFL Division One v Clontibret (Home) at 7.45pm
Saturday, May 26: RFL Division One v Truagh (Away) at 7pm; Under-12 FL Division One v Carrickmacross (Away) at 1.15pm; U-12 FL Division Five v Carrick (A) at 12pm
Tuesday, May 29: Under-14 FC Division Five v Aghabog (Home) at 7pm
Wednesday, May 30: SFL v Clontibret (Home) at 8pm
Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 9, 12, 17 and 26. Jackpot of €5,500 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Ryan Hall c/o Brian O’Sullivan (HC); €40 Róisín and Marie c/o Mick Farrell; €40 PJ McDermott c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Marie Treanor c/o Brian O’Sullivan (HC). Jackpot for Sunday, May 27 is €5,650 and Gráinne and Owen Connell are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.
Golf Classic: We are staging a Golf Classic, sponsored by the Hillgrove Hotel, at Rossmore Golf Club on Bank Holiday Monday, June 4. A fourball costs €160 and we are also looking for tee and green sponsors at a cost of €50 each. All club members are asked for their support in this important fundraiser.
Seniors: The senior footballers had no games last week, but they return to action next Wednesday with a league game at home to Clontibret. Throw-in is at 8pm. Just over two weeks remain until the first round of the championship against Truagh on June 9 in Emyvale.
Reserves: The O’Duffy Cup team were knocked out of the championship by the narrowest of margins in last Friday’s quarter-final at home to Scotstown. Despite conceding an early goal, we stayed in touch throughout the first quarter thanks to a brace of frees by Nicholas Treanor and a point from play by Liam Hahessy. Points from Nicholas and Liam closed the gap to a point (1-3 to 0-5) at half-time, but we had to play the second half with 14 men. We had chances in the second half, but could only manage a point from Paddy Connolly and a goal from Liam, while Scotstown added four points to their tally to edge through on a scoreline of 1-7 to 1-6. We have a chance to bounce back with two league games this week. We host Clontibret tomorrow night (Wednesday) and we travel to Truagh on Saturday evening (please note change of fixture from Friday).
Team and scorers: Conall McKenna; Niall Greenan, Robbie Moyna, Johnny Sherry; Paddy Kelly, Paul Rushe, Gary Murray; Gary White (Capt.), Ronan Garvey; Paddy Connolly (0-1), Nicholas Treanor (0-3, 2f), Paul Kelly; David Loughran, Niall Hahessy, Liam Hahessy (1-2).
Subs: Mark Mulhall for Paul Kelly (inj.), Bernard Murphy for Mulhall, Séamus Brannigan for N Hahessy.
The Crawley Cup team returned to winning ways in the league after a dramatic finish at home to Aghabog last Wednesday. We made our now usual slow start and trailed by 0-5 to 0-2 at half-time, but an improved second-half performances saw Bernard Murphy, Mark Mulhall, Dessie McGarry, Robbie Moyna and Andrew Mullen among the scorers. Aghabog retook the lead with time running out, but a late penalty by Mark proved enough to give us a 1-7 to 0-9 win. Our next RFL Division Four game is not until June 16 against Fergal O’Hanlons.
Team: Jimmy Croarkin; Finnian McKenna, Niall Brannigan, Séamus Brannigan (Capt.); Gary Murray, Johnny Sherry, Conor Callan; Robbie Moyna, Lorcan McAdam; Dessie McGarry, Mark Mulhall, Andrew Mullen; Dean Treanor, Bernard Murphy, Colm Shalvey.
Sub: Dermot Brannigan for Mullen.
Minors: Our minor footballers gave their hopes of qualifying for the league semi-finals a boost with a hard-earned win at home to Killanny last Tuesday. Despite a couple of early points from Fearghal McMahon, our lads fell 1-2 to 0-2 behind when Killanny struck for the only goal of the game. A few more scores from Fearghal and one from Evan Doherty edged our lads ahead by the 20-minute mark, but Killanny finished the half on the front foot to take a 1-6 to 0-7 lead. Despite Fearghal keeping our scores ticking over in the second half, our lads fell four behind at one stage, but the Harps hit the last five points to win it .Fearghal got a couple more points to pass double-figures, while Evan Doherty hit a ’45, Brendan McQuaid got one and Francie Lynch kicked a good point at a vital stage to make the final score 0-15 to 1-10.
Team: Ryan Shields; Pauric Murphy, Niall Treanor, Turlough Clerkin; Mustafa Gamal, Michael Galligan, Carl Foentjies; Evan Doherty, Benin Devlin; Brendan McQuaid, Paul Byrne, Conor Forde; Francis Lynch, Shane Loughran (Capt.), Fearghal McMahon.
Subs: Jason McHugh for Loughran, Conor Burns for Byrne.
U-16: The Under-16 footballers defeated Truagh in a challenge match last Thursday, but lost at home to Donaghmoyne in a rearranged league game on Monday evening. Four points from Evan Morahan kept our lads in touch in the opening quarter, but Donaghmoyne were always just about ahead. Tiarnán Bramley added his name to the scoresheet before half-time, but the Harps still trailed by 0-8 to 0-5 at the interval. An early second-half point by Ramunas was cancelled out by a goal and a point from Donaghmoyne, but a brace by Evan and a goal by Mustafa Gamal closed the gap to the minimum. Points by Evan (two) and Niall Duffy kept the game in the balance in the final quarter, but Donaghmoyne hit an unanswered 1-1 in injury-time to wrap up a 2-14 to 1-11 victory.
Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon; Adam Treanor, James McKenna, David Lowry; Shane McKenna, John Mulligan, Tiarnán Bramley (0-1); Kevin Lyden, Ramunas Ramanauskas (0-1); Evan Morahan (0-8, 5f), Niall Duffy (0-1), Mark Brennan; David Carey, James Owens, Mustafa Gamal (1-0).
Subs: Thomas Bourke for Carey, Evan Cudden for McKenna.
Our minors and Under-16s are both now going into the break for exams. We wish them all the best of luck.
U-14: The Division One team played away to Donaghmoyne last Saturday. It was a great game with some excellent football played by both sides. Our lads were four points up by the end of the first quarter, but Donaghmoyne clawed their way back into the game and after a thriller, they came out on top on a scoreline of 9-14 to 7-11. The Division Five team lost to Drumhowan on Saturday and are at home to Aghabog in the championship on Tuesday evening. The next league games are on June 2.
U-12: Both of our Under-12 football teams begin their league campaigns in Carrickmacross this Saturday. The Division Five game throws in at 12 noon, followed by the Division One game at 1.15. Good luck to Chris Conway, Declan McArdle, Jimmy Croarkin, Pauric Callan and everyone involved.
Good luck: To the Monaghan senior and minor footballers who play Antrim in Clones in the Ulster championship first round on Sunday. Particular best wishes to our own representatives on both panels and minor manager Colin McAree.
Coaching: With over 100 kids registered for our Saturday morning coaching, we need as much help as possible, so contact Una Forde at 087 6107329 if you want to get involved.
Meeting: At our club meeting for May, a vote of sympathy was passed to Michael O’Donoghue and family on the death of his grandmother Alice Swift. Former club player Marc McArdle was congratulated for captaining Monaghan Rugby Club to win the Gordon West Cup. It was agreed to stage a Golf Classic and a ‘Family Fortunes’ event next month.
Aido File: Hard luck to our senior hurlers who lost the semi-final of the development hurling league last Thursday at home to Inniskeen. A poor first-half performance saw the lads facing a seven-point deficit which proved too much to overturn. The result was 1-11 to 2-11 and it’s now back to the drawing board ahead of the first senior league game against Blayney on May 31.
Thanks: It was all hands on deck last Saturday for the Ulster Minor Ladies Football Finals at Gavan Duffy Park. Thanks in no order to Brian, Una, Reece, Ruairí, Noel, Kathleen, Tessie, Liadhan, Gráinne, Allison, Hugh, Jimmy and Mary for helping out. We are also due to host a Junior Football Championship game between Clones and Oram on Saturday week (June 2).
Club Monaghan: PRO Séamus McMeel will have his merchandise stall at Gavan Duffy Park this Saturday, giving an ideal chance to get county colours for Sunday’s Ulster championship matches.
Cúl Camp: We will once again be hosting a Monaghan GAA Kellogg’s Cúl Camp at Gavan Duffy Park from July 9-13. Full details are available on our website.
By michael Tue 22nd May
