Fixtures: Tuesday, April 14: MFL Division One v Carrickmacross (Away) at 7pm

Thursday, April 16: Under-16 FL Division One v Aughnamullen (Away) at 6.30pm

Saturday, April 18: SFL v Ballybay (Away) at 7pm; Under-14 FL Division One v Latton (Away) at 5pm; Under-12 Spring League Zone I v Éire Óg (Home) at 2pm; Zone C v Inniskeen (Home) at 3.15pm

Sunday, April 19: MHL v Castleblayney (Away) at 12pm

Tuesday, April 21: MFL Division One v Scotstown (Home) at 7.15pm

Wednesday, April 22: SFL v Castleblayney (Home) at 7.30pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 6, 10, 21 and 26. Jackpot of €1,800 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Chris Conway c/o Owen Connell; €40 Tony Croarkin c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Gerry Coyle c/o Barry Sullivan; €40 Pierce Gallagher c/o Barry Sullivan. Jackpot for Sunday, April 19 is €1,900 and Mary and Fergus Coyle are on duty. Plans are underway for our Lotto to celebrate its 21^st birthday on the May Bank Holiday Sunday night (May 3), with a meeting taking place in the clubhouse this Sunday at 9.30pm. All welcome.

 

Quiz: Please keep free Friday week, April 24 when we will be hosting a table quiz at 9pm in the clubhouse. All support appreciated.

 

Seniors: Our Senior Football League game against Magheracloone, due to have been played tomorrow night (Wednesday) has been postponed due to the death of Josephine Galligan, grandmother of senior players Conor and Michael. We have two SFL games in the next week, away to Ballybay on Saturday and at home to Castleblayney on Wednesday. All support welcome.

 

Darkness into Light: We are preparing to host the second Darkness into Light Monaghan 5km walk/run in the early morning of Saturday, May 9, with online registration currently available and registration nights also to take place in the clubhouse and hopefully in the shopping centre in the previous week. The launch night for the Monaghan and Cavan events takes place in our clubhouse this Thursday, April 16 at 7.30pm. All welcome.

 

Reserves: There is now a long gap without games for both reserve teams, with no fixtures until the RFL Division 1B resumes on May 6, with the O’Duffy Cup first round against Clontibret coming four days later on May 10.

 

Minors: Our minor footballers were unlucky to lose by the narrowest of margins in a thrilling game at home to Magheracloone last Tuesday. A Dillon Duffy goal and points by Shane McMahon (two) and Dylan McKenna kept the Harps in touch in an evenly-matched opening quarter, but Magheracloone hit an unanswered 1-2 to lead by 2-5 to 1-3 at half-time. Shane converted another free at the start of the second half, but Magheracloone had moved eight points clear until Dillon palmed home his second goal. Points by Reece Treanor, Shane and Darragh Hannon and 1-1 by Jack Deery briefly gave our lads the lead, but Magheracloone found the net again and a late brace of frees by Reece could only close the deficit to a point (3-10 to 3-11). The minors are away to Carrickmacross this evening (Tuesday), a week before Scotstown come to Gavan Duffy Park.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Conor Flynn, Evan Cudden, Niall McManus; Kyle O’Leary, David Lowry (Capt.), Kevin Lyden; Dylan McKenna (0-1), Darragh Hannon (0-1); Reece Treanor (0-3, 2f), Shane McMahon (0-4, 3f), Conor Duffy; Jack Deery (1-1), Dillon Duffy (2-0), John Mulligan.

Sub: Remy McKenna for O’Leary.

 

U-16: Our Under-16 footballers began their defence of the Division One League title with a defeat at home to Truagh last Thursday. Despite creating a few good goal chances and scoring points through Conor McCrystal, Aidan Burns and Ethan Murphy, our lads went in trailing by 1-10 to 0-5 at half-time and an accurate Truagh side kept the scoreboard ticking over in the second half.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Zach Mallen, Anthony Greenan, Adam O’Neill; Niall Ward, Ultan O’Rourke, Seán McKenna; Ethan Murphy (0-1), Jamie Shields; Nathan O’Donoghue, Aidan Burns (0-1), Thomas Croarkin; Conor McCrystal (0-3), James Bourke, Aaron Coyle.

The lads have an away game against Aughnamullen this Thursday at 6.30.

 

U-14: Our Under-14 Division Four team had a great win at home to Seán McDermotts in the league last Saturday. Scores were few and far between in the early stages, but well-taken goals by Adam McGarry and Dean Doherty got our lads up and running, before Erikas Dikmonas added a hat-trick of points. A Brian McAteer point made it 2-4 to 1-0 in our favour at half-time and we started the second half with points by Tiarnán O’Rourke and Adam, as well as a second goal from Dean. Terence McDonald came off the bench to kick a string of fine scores, while Dylan Ballantine and Shea Treanor also added their names to the list of scorers and Adam hit his second goal, as our lads went on to win by 5-15 to 3-2. This was a fine performance from all involved in this team, whose next game is against Tyholland on Saturday week (April 25).

Team and scorers: Kamile Parszywka; Mujtaba Gamal (Capt.), Lukas Virfilas; Jamie McCarron, Liam Conway; Tiarnán O’Rourke (0-1), Dean Doherty (2-1); Brian McAteer (0-1), Shea Treanor (0-1); Adam McGarry (2-1), Erikas Dikmonas (0-4).

Subs used: Terence McDonald (1-5, 0-1f), Dylan Ballantine (0-1), Daragh Croarkin.

The Division One team are back in action with a rescheduled league game away to Latton this Saturday at 5pm.

 

U-12: Two of our three Under-12 football teams have home games in the Spring League this Saturday: Zone I v Éire Óg at 2pm and Zone C v Inniskeen at 3.15.

 

U-10: A group of Under-10 players travelled to Dublin last Sunday morning and they fared well in a challenge match against St. Vincent’s. Thanks to our hosts, the famous north-Dublin club, for welcoming us to Marino.

 

Saturday-morning coaching: Our popular Saturday-morning coaching for U-6s, U-8s & U-10s is up and running again for 2015. Anyone who wants to volunteer to help out is encouraged to do so. The coaching takes a morning off this Saturday, April 18, when we are hosting a double blitz for U-8s and U-10s from 10am to 12 noon. All help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sympathy: The club sends sincere sympathies to the families of Brendan Devlin (father of senior player, Conor) and Josephine Galligan (wife of the late Harry, mother of Maurice and Enda and grandmother of Conor and Michael), who passed away in the last week. At recent club meetings, votes of sympathy were also passed to the families of Mary Keelaghan, Madge McKenna and Maureen McEnaney. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.

 

Membership: Membership for 2015 is now overdue and must be paid as soon as possible. Fees are as follows: €20 per adult, €10 per child or €50 for a family of two adults and any number of children. Money can be paid in the clubhouse each Sunday night, or any time to registrar Dermot Coyle (086 0734098) Jimmy Croarkin (087 1249635), Peter Coyle (087 9700858), or in Terry’s Bar or the Cosy Bar.

 

County teams: Hard luck to Neil McAdam and the Monaghan senior footballers, who put up a great performance in their NFL semi-final against Dublin at Croke Park last Sunday.

 

Easter Camp: Gavan Duffy Park hosted a Monaghan GAA Easter Camp for the first time last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Over 50 children enjoyed the fun and games in beautiful conditions.

 

Pitch bookings: All pitch bookings for matches and training sessions this year must be made via 086 1957155. Training times have been allotted and any changes must be notified.

 

Clubhouse: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 for more information. Free Wi-Fi is now available in the clubhouse.

 

Good luck: To the Harps ladies, who celebrate their 2014 success with a presentation night in the Westenra Hotel this Saturday night. Tickets are available from Orla Whelan and from McElvaney’s Bar.

 

Hurling:

U-12s: Training continues every Sunday at 12pm. Our first fixture is at home to Keady on Monday, April 27 (6.45pm).

U-14s: Our U-14s are through three rounds of their league and to date have played out a victory over Cootehill in between narrow losses to Castleblayney and Truagh, with notable performances from Lee Treanor, Aaron Treanor, Stephen Ward and Evan Meighan. Next up is a home game against Knockbridge on May 4 (7.30pm).

U-16s: Our U-16s got their league campaign underway on Monday with a win over Truagh. Nathan O’Donoghue, Anthony Greenan, Jorin Connor, Dylan McAree (including a superb score from play from 75 yards), Lochlainn Power, Niall McKenna, Stefan McQuaid (3-1 on his club debut), Cillian Sherry, Shane McCabe and Seán McKenna all got their names on the scoresheet. Next Monday we are home to Lisbellaw with a 7.30 throw-in.

Minors: Our minor team got off to winning ways last Saturday evening with a comprehensive win over Truagh. Ruairí Forde, Aidan Burns, Conor Flynn, Ciarán Cassidy (C), Dylan McAree, Andrew Connolly, Reece Treanor and Niall McManus all got on the scoresheet. Our next fixture is away to Castleblayney this Sunday at 12pm.

Seniors: Our seniors have played one fixture of the Development League to date, which ended in a defeat to Truagh for what is quite a young team. Next up is a home fixture against Carrickmacross on Thursday, April 30 at 7.30pm.​