Fixtures: Tuesday, April 30: MFL Division One v Truagh (Away) at 7.15pm

Wednesday, May 1: SFL v Ballybay (Away) at 7.30pm

Thursday, May 2: DHL v Clontibret (Home) at 7.30pm; Under-16 FL Division One v Scotstown (Away) at 7pm

Friday, May 3: RFC O’Duffy Cup v Magheracloone (Home) at 7.15pm

Saturday, May 4: Under-14 FC Division One Final v Killanny in Blackhill at 7pm; Under-21 FL Division Two v Killanny in Inniskeen at 5pm; Under-14 FL Division Five v Truagh (Away) at 12pm

Sunday, May 5: MHL Truagh Harps v Carrickmacross in Truagh at 12pm

Monday, May 6: SFL v Clontibret (Home) at 6pm; Under-14 HL v Castleblayney (Away) at 7.15pm

Tuesday, May 7: MFL Division One v Magheracloone (Home) at 7.30pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 3, 4, 6 and 7. Jackpot of €4,600 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Alan Ryan c/o Jim Dalton (Hurling Club); €40 Sorcha Dalton c/o Jim Dalton (HC); €40 Séamus & Ann McManus c/o Owen Connell; €40 Naoise Quinn c/o Cosy Bar. Jackpot for Sunday, May 5 is €4,750 and Seán and Kathleen Boyle and Tessie Connolly 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.

 

Meetings: A football-development meeting will be held in the clubhouse this Thursday at 8pm. There will be a lotto committee meeting in the clubhouse on Wednesday (May 8) at 8.30pm. All committee members are asked to attend.

 

Seniors: We are away to Ballybay in the SFL tomorrow night (Wednesday) and we host Clontibret in a rescheduled game on Monday evening.

 

U-14: The Under-14 Football Championship Division One Final sees our lads take on Killanny this Saturday evening at 7pm in Blackhill. All support welcome. Best of luck to Michael O’Donoghue, Thomas McCabe, Ciarán Mulligan and the players. Meanwhile, our Division Five team are away to Truagh for a 12 noon throw-in.

 

Dance: We will be staging a fundraising dance night with music from The Outlaws at the Hillgrove Hotel on Friday, May 24. Tickets, costing €10, are available now from Seán Boyle and other club members as well as local outlets. All support would be very much appreciated.

 

Reserves: The O’Duffy Cup team got a first win of the league at the fifth attempt after a tense finish in Clontibret last Wednesday evening. Our lads started well, with a goal from Pat Murphy and a point from a free by Conor McCaughey and although Clontibret closed the gap to a point, a second goal from Gerard Gilsenan and a point by Pat helped us take a 2-2 to 0-5 lead in at half-time. Scores were hard to come by as conditions worsened in the second half, but points from Michael Galligan and Niall Greenan kept us in front and although Clontibret drew level in the closing stages, Stephen Driver kicked a fine score which proved to be the winner. 

Team and scorers: Conall McKenna; Paul Rushe, Rónán Garvey (Capt.), Darren McMahon; Robbie Moyna, Conor Devlin, Dean McMahon; Stephen Driver (0-1), Paddy Connolly; Pat Murphy (1-1), Niall Greenan (0-1), Michael Galligan (0-1); David Loughran, Gerard Gilsenan (1-0), Conor McCaughey (0-1f).

Subs: Brendan McQuaid for Murphy (inj.), Aidan Connell for Dean McMahon, Gary Trappe for Loughran.

We are at home to Magheracloone this Friday in the O’Duffy Cup championship.

 

Minors: The minor footballers lost narrowly in a high-scoring game away to Emyvale last Tuesday. Goals by Evan Morahan, Kevin Loughran and Francie Lynch had our lads ahead by 3-6 to 2-5 at half-time and although Fearghal McMahon found the net to keep the Harps ahead in the second half, Emyvale finished strongly, with a late goal giving them a 3-12 to 4-8 win. The lads are away to Truagh tonight (Tuesday), while next Tuesday’s game is at home to Magheracloone.

Scorers (v Emyvale): Fearghal McMahon 1-5 (0-3f); Evan Morahan 1-2; Kevin Loughran, Francis Lynch 1-0 each; James McKenna 0-1.

 

Under-21s: An understrength Under-21 team fell to a heavy defeat in Carrickmacross last Friday. They will hope to turn that around in this Saturday’s game against Killanny in Inniskeen at 5pm.

 

U-16: The next round of the Under-16 FL takes place away to Scotstown on Thursday at 7pm.

 

U-12: Both of our Under-12 football teams completed the group stages of the spring league with wins over Clones/Currin in Clones last Saturday.

 

Hurling: Our Under-14s started what will hopefully be a trophy-laden season by landing the club’s first silverware in Clontibret on Monday evening. Right from the start the Harps signalled their intent with Aidan Burns winning the sliotar and driving into the Castleblayney half. However, it was a few minutes later when the Harps registered their first score of the game, Nathan O’Donoghue pointing from range. Both Nathan and Aidan were to be heavily involved as the first half progressed, and it was two devastating runs from Aidan which ended in three-pointers that truly ended the game as a contest just over midway through the first half. The Harps were very effective at keeping the scoreboard ticking over throughout the half with further goals from Conor McCrystal and Conor Doyle. Ben Kearns-Flynn finished with his second point of the game to leave it 4-8 to 0-0 at half-time.

After an early flurry of wides in the second half, Conor McCrystal landed the first score to settle the Harps back into their game. This was followed up by two Nathan O’Donoghue scores either side of a Stephen McNally pointed free for Castleblayney. This impressive forward display was equalled in measure by inspiring performances from the Harps backs. Dylan McAree at centre-back was particularly involved, constantly cutting out Castleblayney attacks and driving the team forward. Seán McKenna at full-back, Thomas Croarkin and joint-captain Anthony Greenan were also in great form in the second half as they were instrumental in stopping many of the ‘Blayney attacks. The Harps continued to control the game and will be extremely happy with their performance, which led to a convincing 4-11 to 0-1 full-time score.

The level of this success is further emphasised by the fact that this is the third year in a row that Jim Dalton and his fellow management have won the U-14 hurling championship and represented the county at Féile na nGael, which will take place in Limerick this July 5-7. Huge congratulations to all players and management on reaping the rewards of much hard work.

Team and scorers: Cillian Sherry; Lochlainn Power, Seán McKenna, John Lowry; Anthony Greenan (Joint Capt.), Dylan McAree, Niall Ward; Aiden Burns (Joint Capt., 2-4, 0-2f), Thomas Croarkin; Nathan O’Donoghue (0-4, 2f), Conor Doyle (1-0), Ben Kearns-Flynn (0-2); Stephen Ward, James Bourke, Conor McCrystal (1-2).

Subs used: Zach Mallen, Jorin Conor, Shane McCabe, Seán Conway, Ruairc Healy.

Rest of panel: Oisín Power, Colin Peppard, Vlad Khokha, Cillian Treanor, Brendan Óg Duffy, Ethan Murphy.

Management: Jim Dalton, Michael O’Donoghue & Thomas McCabe.

The senior hurlers got off to a disappointing start in the Senior League last Thursday, finishing the wrong side of a one point margin. Whilst the team settled in well to the game, being wasteful up front, along with the concession of unnecessary frees was ultimately costly. Conceding two first half goals left the Harps trailing by 2-7 to 1-6 at half time. Although the second half saw the Harps steady the ship and even push into the lead after a Maurice McKenna goal, the errors of the first half were repeated and three Truagh frees along with a point from play pushed them back into the lead. Although the Harps rallied again late on and were unlucky in hitting the post and a Gerard Gilsenan effort rattling the crossbar, they were to fall short by the smallest of margins at the final whistle. Next game up sees the Harps at home to Clontibret on Thursday in the Development League, and will offer the squad a chance to get back into their winning ways.

Team and scorers: James Greenan; Éanna Finlay, Robbie Healy, Seamus McLoughlin; Aidan Connell, Aodhán Óg McAnespie; Jack Lee, Alan Ryan (Capt., 0-1); Conor Curley (0-1), Ross Corbett (0-1), Kieran O’Mahony (0-1); Darren McGill, Gerard Gilsenan (0-1), Maurice McKenna (2-6, 1-5f).

Subs: Brendan McQuaid for McGill, Micheál Ó Mordha for Corbett, Alan Lee for O’Mahony, Frank Burke for Connell.

Well done to Truagh Harps on their 3-12 to 1-8 victory over Clontibret in the minor hurling league on Sunday. They now stand at two wins out of two and follow this up with a match in Truagh against Carrick this Sunday, May 5 at 12pm.

 

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: Congratulations to Neil McAdam, Conor Galligan and the Monaghan senior footballers who won the NFL Division Three Final against Meath at Croke Park last Saturday, with Neil playing a key role at centre half-back. Well done also to Kevin Loughran (who captained the team from full-back) and Fearghal McMahon (who scored five points from full-forward) for helping Monaghan to beat Donegal in the Ulster MFL Final, also on Saturday. Hard luck to the county minor hurlers, who lost to Donegal in the Ulster shield final on Friday.