Fixtures: Tuesday, April 16: Under-14 FC Division One S-F v Truagh (Home) at 7pm; MFL Division One v Scotstown (Away) at 7.15pm

Wednesday, April 17: SFL v Scotstown (Away) at 7.15pm

hursday, April 18: Development HL v Castleblayney (Away) at 7.15pm; Under-16 FL Division One v Donaghmoyne (Home) at 6.45pm

Saturday, April 20: RFL Division 3 v Clontibret (Away); at 7pm; Under-14 FL Division One v Clones/Currin (Away) at 12.15pm; Under-14 FL Division Five v Clones/Currin (A) at 11am

Sunday, April 21: SFL v Carrickmacross (Home) at 2pm

Monday, April 22: Under-14 HC v Carrickmacross (Away) at 7pm

Tuesday, April 23: MFL Division One v Emyvale (Home) at 7.15pm

Wednesday, April 24: RFL Division 1A v Clontibret (Away) at 7.30pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 1, 15, 26 and 27. Jackpot of €4,300 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Imelda O’Sullivan c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club); €40 Mary McRory c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Jamie Rushe c/o senior footballers; €40 Bernie Calvert c/o Paddy Donnelly. Jackpot for Sunday, April 21 is €4,400 and Ann and Kevin Treanor are on duty. All welcome. Anyone who has sold a direct-debit is asked to pass the details on to the Lotto committee as soon as possible, so they can be entered into our weekly draw straight away. The Monaghan Harps Lotto plays an integral role in the running of the club. If you want to volunteer to get involved in any way (e.g. selling tickets), please contact any committee member.

 

Seniors: We got our first win of this year’s SFL at home to Rockcorry last Saturday. A goal by Liam Hahessy, a hat-trick of points from Donal Hahessy and a long-range Neil McAdam score got our lads off to a great start, but Rockcorry rallied to close the gap to four and even though Donal replied, the game was still in the balance at 1-5 to 0-4 at half-time. A strong start to the second half, however, saw Donal, Liam, Nicholas Treanor and Emmett McArdle all on target. Debutant Michael Galligan, Gary White and Nicholas Scott all added their names to the scoresheet in the final quarter to seal a 1-14 to 0-6 victory.

Team and scorers: Mark Hughes; Conor Devlin, Rónán Garvey, Darren McMahon; Nicholas Scott (0-1), Conor Galligan, David Hughes; Neil McAdam (0-1), Gary White (Capt., 0-1); Michael Galligan (0-1), Nicholas Treanor (0-1), Shane Coyle; Donal Hahessy (0-5), Emmett McArdle (0-2), Liam Hahessy (1-2).

Subs: Dean Fanning for S Coyle (40 mins), Paddy Connolly for Treanor (47), Niall Greenan for D Hahessy (52), Peter Coyle for McAdam (55).

The seniors are also away to Scotstown tomorrow night (Wednesday) and are at home to Carrickmacross this Sunday.

 

Reserves: We returned to winning ways in the RFL Division 3 with a comfortable victory at home to neighbours Feargal O’Hanlons last Sunday. Points from Conor McCaughey (four), David Loughran (two) and Gary Trappe gave us a 0-7 to 0-2 lead at the end of a low-key first half, before Brendan McQuaid and David each hit 1-1 in the early stages of the second half. Further points came from Conor (two), Gerard Gilsenan and Brendan to make the final score 2-13 to 0-4.

Team and scorers: Ronan McGann; Gary Trappe (0-1), Niall Brannigan; Séamus Brannigan, Johnny Sherry, Fionntán Cassidy; Gerard Gilsenan (Capt., 0-1), Craig Connolly; Pat Murphy, David Loughran (1-3), Dean McMahon; Finnian McKenna, Conor McCaughey (0-6).

Subs: Brendan McQuaid (1-2), Paddy Kelly for Sherry, Shea Deeney for Murphy, Anthony Croarkin for Loughran, Gary Sexton for McMahon.

Next up is an away game against Clontibret on Saturday evening, while the O’Duffy Cup team are also in Clontibret on Wednesday evening.

 

Minors: Last week’s MFL game against Carrickmacross was postponed, but the lads are away to Scotstown this evening (Tuesday). Next Tuesday’s game is at home to Emyvale.

 

Under-21s: Our Under-21 footballers got a walkover from Donaghmoyne last Wednesday. Their next game is away to Carrickmacross on April 28.

 

U-16: Our Under-16 footballers lost narrowly at home to Clontibret in difficult conditions last Thursday. Some good points by Reece Treanor and Remy McKenna had our lads ahead by 0-6 to 0-3 in the first half, but Clontibret scored a goal to draw level at half-time and they were more clinical in the second half to win by 1-8 to 0-8. The lads are at home again this Thursday against Donaghmoyne.

 

U-14: The Under-14s won their Division One championship quarter-final away to Magheracloone last Tuesday evening. Magheracloone started well with a goal and a point, but a brace of goals by Michael Mulligan and points by Conor McCrystal, Nathan O’Donoghue (two), Ethan Murphy, Ben Kearns-Flynn and Michael saw the Harps take charge. Magheracloone responded with three in a row, but Conor gave our lads a 2-7 to 1-4 lead at half-time. Our lads were dominant after the restart, with Michael wasting no time in completing his hat-trick and points following from Conor (two), Nathan, Ben, Jamie Shields and James Bourke. With the Harps midfield on top and the half-back line sweeping up any loose ball, the scores continued to flow through goals by Michael and Ben, before Colin Peppard kicked two points, either side of one from fellow sub James Bourke, to make the final score 5-17 to 1-6. The lads are in championship semi-final action against Truagh this evening (Tuesday) – all support welcome.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Seán McKenna, Anthony Greenan, Zach Mallon; Niall Ward, Aidan Burns, Ultan O’Rourke; Ben Kearns-Flynn (1-2), Jamie Shields (0-1); Conor McCrystal (0-4), Ethan Murphy (0-1), Thomas Croarkin (Capt.); Nathan O’Donoghue (0-3, 2f), Soky John, Michael Mulligan (4-2).

Subs: James Bourke (0-2), Colin Peppard (0-2), Oisín Power.

There is an Under-14 double-header in Clones this Saturday against the Clones/Currin amalgamation, starting with the first game of the Division Five league at 11am, followed by the Division One match at 12.15.

 

U-12: The second round of the Under-12 Football Spring Leagues took place last weekend, when we travelled to Emyvale. The Zone A game finished in a draw after a strong performance by our lads, particularly in the first two quarters, while the Zone B game resulted in another good win for the Harps.

 

U-10s: Well done to the group of Under-10 footballers who entertained the crowd during the half-time interval of our SFL match at home to Rockcorry last Saturday.

 

Hurling: Our seniors defeated Carrick away last Thursday in the Development League. In a game that was scrappy at times during the first half due to the poor conditions with a lot of surface water, the Harps were quickest to find their feet. Long-range scores from Jack Lee and Alan Ryan and a goal by Gerard Gilsenan ensured the Harps led by 1-5 to 1-2 at half-time. The Harps were quick off the mark again in the second half and tagged on a few quick points. They never looked like releasing this grip on the game as they starved the Carrick forwards of possession, holding them to one point in the second half. At the other end, some great use of the sliotar led to much space opening for our forwards and midfield, leading to a 1-10 haul; Alan Ryan with the second goal from a 21-metre free. The game finished on a score line of 2-15 to 1-3.

Scorers: Alan Ryan 1-3; Gerard Gilsenan 1-2; Jack Lee 0-3; Donal Hahessy, Conor Curley 0-2 each; Aidan Connell, Brendan McQuaid, Kieran O’Mahoney 0-1 each.

Next up is Castleblayney away this Thursday at 7pm. Players are reminded that there are some still to pay membership/insurance.

Our U-14s progressed in their championship on Saturday. They will play Carrick away in the semi-final on Monday, April 22 at 7pm.

With the weather getting (slightly) better at this time of year, all underage hurlers are encouraged to get down to Rooskey on Sundays at 12pm where there are a number of coaches involved in ensuring plenty hurling for all age groups every week.

Well done to Patrick Hannon, Séamus McLoughlin and Maurice McKenna who were involved in retaining Monaghan’s Division 3A status for next year.

 

Dance: We will be staging a dance night with music from The Outlaws on Friday, May 24. Keep an eye on the notes, club website etc. for more details.

 

Jerseys: A number of the senior hurlers’ jerseys are missing. Could everyone please check kitbags etc. to make sure they don’t have any of these jerseys.

 

Saturday morning coaching: Our coaching for Under-10s is up and running and will continue every Saturday morning from 10.30-11.30. Anyone who wants to help out in any way is also more than welcome to get involved. Parents are asked to pay their children’s registration fees as soon as possible.

 

Harps watches: We are now selling wrist-watches with the Harps crest for €10. Contact Liadhan Treanor at 086 7837204 for more details.

 

County teams: Well done to the county senior hurlers on retaining their NHL status last Saturday. Good luck to the minor footballers and hurlers, who both have important games this weekend.

 

Vote of sympathy: At last Thursday’s club meeting, a vote of sympathy was passed to the family of Niall Ward, Tydavnet.

 

The Gathering: We are organising some events for current and former Harps players and members to coincide with the ‘Gathering’ initiative. Anyone willing to get involved can contact any committee member.

 

Scoláireachtaí Gaeltachta: Interviews for Gaeltacht Scholarships to Coláiste Bhríde, Rann Na Feirste will be held in GAA Administration Office, Cloghan on Saturday, April 20. Interviews for students who are pre Junior Cert will start at 10am, while interviews for post- Junior Cert and Leaving Cert students will begin at 11.30am. No pre-booking is required.