Fixtures: Thursday, June 27: Under-16 FL Division One v Clontibret (Away) at 7.30pm

Saturday, June 29: Under-12 FL Division 2B v Feargal O’Hanlons (Away) at 12pm; U-12 FL Division 1A v Castleblayney (Away) at 1.15pm

Sunday, June 30: Under-26 FC Division One v Clontibret (Away) at 5pm

Monday, July 1: Under-16 HL v Clontibret (Home) at 8pm; Under-12 HL v Clontibret (Home) at 6.45pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 1, 18, 19 and 21. Jackpot of €5,500 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Stephen Bond c/o Dermot Coyle; €40 Matt McCaughey c/o himself; €40 Hugh McKenna c/o Maria McKenna; €40 Niall Hahessy c/o senior footballers. Jackpot for Sunday, June 30 is €5,600 and Ann and Kevin Treanor are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

Fashion show: Our fashion show drew a great crowd to the Hillgrove Hotel last Thursday night. The juvenile and senior players kicked the night off, with the help of Hugh Coyle, who got a great cheer as he bounced the ball up and down the catwalk! Local models then did an excellent job of displaying a wide range of clothes from local shops, before the highlight of the night, which was the ‘wedding’ of Ronan Clarke and Margaret Brennan, with the help of a number of club members! A massive thanks goes from the senior players and management to everyone involved, especially Ann Driver and the ladies who put in a great effort in preparing the event. We are grateful for the help of sponsors The Hillgrove Hotel, Brix Workwear, Shuzella, Lady’s Day, Flowers ’n’ Things, Aileen’s Flower Shop, Etiquette Menswear; Cheveux Hair Salon; Craft Cottage, Utopia, The One, Kieran Campbell Haulage, Eamonn Keelaghan of Bragan water. The sponsors of the players’ gear were Moneycare, Soleire Electrical and Bogue’s Ford Garage. Thanks also to the local businesses who donated prizes for the raffle, which was a great success. Well done to MC Seán McCaffrey and Fabian Murphy on sound for a fine job and thanks to all local media outlets for their coverage. Thanks to Glaslough National School for their help and we wish them luck in their future fundraising for their new car park.

 

U-14: Best of luck to our Under-14 footballers, who head to Féile Peil na nÓg this weekend. The competition is mainly based in Derry, but the Harps are based just over the Donegal border in Newtowncunningham. The lads are expected to leave the clubhouse at around 10am this Friday, with their first fixture being against host club Naomh Colmcille at 1.30pm. All the best to the players and their management team of Michael O’Donoghue, Thomas McCabe and Ciarán Mulligan, who will no doubt do the club proud.

The lads warmed up for Féile with a comfortable win at home to Scotstown in the league last Saturday. A brace of points from Ben Kearns-Flynn had our lads ahead by 0-2 to 0-1 at the end of a low-scoring first quarter and the lads stepped it up a gear in the second quarter, again restricting Scotstown to just one point. Ethan Murphy, Aidan Burns, Ben, James Bourke and Nathan O’Donoghue opened up a seven-point gap (0-9 to 0-2) and although the visitors started the third quarter brightly, the Harps pulled further away with well-worked goals by Michael Mulligan and Ethan. The lads picked off eight unanswered scores in the final quarter, with Conor McCrystal and Colin Peppard (who had by then moved into the forwards) adding their names to the scoresheet to cap a 3-18 to 0-5 victory.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Seán McKenna, Colin Peppard (1-0); Niall Ward, Anthony Greenan, Thomas Croarkin (0-1); Aidan Burns (0-2), Ben Kearns-Flynn (0-5); Conor McCrystal (0-2), Ethan Murphy (1-2), Nathan O’Donoghue (0-3, 1 ’45); Michael Mulligan (1-2, 0-1f), James Bourke (0-1).

Subs used: Adam O’Neill, Corey McArdle.

The Division Five team also had a fine win at home to Emerald Sarsfields on Saturday. Despite having lost to the amalgamated side twice in recent weeks, our lads showed no fear as they enjoyed a great start, with scores by Corey McArdle, Oisín Fagan, Killian McAdam and Dylan Maguire helping the Harps lead by 3-7 to 0-4 at half-time. Emerald Sarsfields rallied in the third quarter, closing the gap to four (4-9 to 3-8), but Corey took over in the final quarter, scoring four goals to make the final score 8-11 to 5-9.

Team and scorers: Brendan Óg Duffy; Seán Conway, Shane McCabe, Aaron Coyle; Stephen Ward (0-1), Lorcan O’Rourke (0-1); Oisín Fagan (1-1), Dylan Maguire (0-2, 1f), Corey McArdle (6-5).

Subs used: Killian McAdam (1-1), Adam O’Neill.

 

Street collection: Our annual juvenile street collection took place last weekend. Sincere thanks to everyone involved in organising the collection and everyone who helped out or supported in any way. The collection raised money which will be crucial to the running of the juvenile club.

 

Reserves: We are through to a first Reserve Football Championship Division Three Final thanks to a good win away to Aghabog in last Friday’s semi-final. A brace of goals from Conor McCaughey helped us take a 2-4 to 0-6 lead in at half-time and although Aghabog closed the gap after the restart, our lads finished strongly. Stephen Driver and Gerard Gilsenan kicked some fine scores to help the Harps through on a scoreline of 2-15 to 1-10. We will play Blackhill in the final. Date and venue TBC.

Team and scorers: Ronan McGann (Capt.); Niall Treanor, Niall Brannigan, Johnny Sherry; Séamus Brannigan, Mustafa Gamal, Dean McMahon (0-1); Stephen Driver (0-5), Robbie Moyna (0-1); Gary Murray, Ashley White (0-2f), Pat Murphy; David Loughran, Gerard Gilsenan (0-4), Conor McCaughey (2-0).

Subs: Conor Forde for N Brannigan, Jason McHugh (0-1) for Loughran, Craig Connolly (0-1) for Gilsenan, John McCoy for Murphy, Fionntán Cassidy for White.

Neither of last week’s reserve league fixtures went ahead. First up, Killanny conceded last Wednesday in the RFL Division Three, while no referee turned up for Sunday’s RFL Division 1A game against Castleblayney.

 

U-16: The Under-16s returned to league action with a defeat at home to a strong St. Patrick’s amalgamation last Thursday. The next few days see the lads travel to Clontibret twice: first for a league game this Thursday and then for the first round of the championship on Sunday. Best of luck to all involved.

 

U-12: The Under-12 Division 2B team had a good win away to Tyholland last Wednesday. Despite falling four points down early on, our lads soon got going with a goal by Adam McGarry and points by Shay Cooney, Adam, Dean Doherty and Darragh Croarkin. Lochlainn Power scored a goal to give the Harps a 2-8 to 2-3 lead at the end of the first period and Lochlainn added a brace of three-pointers after the restart, before a second goal from Adam and points by Dean and Darragh sealed a 5-10 to 5-3 win. Both U-12 teams are in action on Saturday, with the Division 1A team in Castleblayney for a 1.15pm throw-in and the Division 2B team away to Feargal O’Hanlons at 12 noon.

Team and scorers: Ryan Leonard; James Curley, Brendan Óg Duffy; Ryan McSkeane, Nathan Lavery; Lochlainn Power (3-0), Dean Doherty (0-2f); Adam McGarry (2-3, 1-0f), Craig Cooney; Shay Cooney (0-3, 1f), Darragh Croarkin (0-2, 1f).

Hurling: Our U-12s and U-16s both had excellent wins over Inniskeen on Monday. Their great team performances made the long trip worthwhile and it backs up the great effort that the lads have been making in their Sunday morning training sessions. They follow this up with home fixtures against Clontibret on Monday at 6.45 and 8pm.

Well done to Cathal Power who represented the club and county excellently last Friday in the Ulster Poc Fada at Divis Mountain, Antrim. Congratulations to Lochlainn Power who won the County Community Games Poc Fada on Saturday last.

The Harps drew their second senior championship fixture away to Carrickmacross (1-10 apiece) last Thursday. After getting off to a slow start, they quickly found themselves trailing by 1-3 to 0-0. The Harps eventually found their feet with points by Maurice McKenna (two) and Dónal Hahessy. Ross Corbett, who also went close to scoring a goal, hit the last point of the half to leave the lads trailing by 1-6 to 0-5. The Harps had the best possible start to the second half, with a point from Gerard Gilsenan and a goal by Ross after a great bit of play by Alan Lee. The remainder of the game was very much a trading of scores with Aodhán Óg McAnespie (2), Maurice and Corbett all registering for the Harps. The Harps came close to goal on another couple of occasions, while Jack Lee and Micheál Ó Mórdha dealt extremely well with the high balls that occasionally came their way. However, in the end the Harps were left to rue missed chances, and the concession of a high amount of frees which ultimately kept Carrick in the game. Next fixture is away to Clontibret on July 11 in the championship.

Team and scorers: Éanna Finlay; Micheál Ó Mórdha, Jack Lee, Darren McGill; Aidan Connell, Shane Smyth, Alan Lee; Dónal Hahessy (0-1), Maurice McKenna (0-4, 3f); Niall Hahessy, Aodhán Óg McAnespie (0-2, 1f), Conor Curley; Gerard Gilsenan (0-1), Ross Corbett (1-2, 0-1f), Paul Lee.

Subs: Brendan McQuaid for P Lee, Frank Burke for Gilsenan; Myles Dwyer for McGill.

 

Good luck: To Neil McAdam, Conor Galligan, Kevin Loughran, Fearghal McMahon and the Monaghan senior and minor footballers in their Ulster semi-final double-header against Cavan in Clones this Saturday. Tickets are available from Cloghan and local shops. See website for full details.

 

Umbrellas: Monaghan Harps umbrellas have been selling well in recent weeks and there are just a few still available, but a new order will soon be made. Contact Séamus McManus at 086 8167928 for more information.

 

Cúl Camp: This year’s GAA Cúl Camp at Gavan Duffy Park will take place from July 15-19. See www.monaghangaa.ie for more details.