Fixture: Sunday, November 8: SFL S-F v Truagh (Home) at 2.30pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 3, 4, 9 and 10. Jackpot of €2,500 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Paudge Connolly c/o himself; €40 Noel McConnell c/o Cosy Bar; €40 ‘The Crazy Gang’ c/o clubhouse; €40 Mick McGuane c/o Dermot Coyle. Jackpot for Sunday, November 8 is €2,600 and Mary and Fergus Coyle are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in our newly refurbished clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

SFL: We host Truagh in the Senior Football League semi-finals this Sunday at 2pm. We lost a high-scoring game against Magheracloone last Sunday. A poor start saw us fall 2-2 to 0-0 down and although 1-1 by Fearghal McMahon and points from Éimhín Morahan, Liam Hahessy and Nicholas Treanor brought us into it, we still trailed by 2-6 to 1-5 at half-time. Dean Fanning hit 1-2 in the second half and Conor Galligan, Shane Smyth, Dónal Hahessy and Nicholas also got on the scoresheet, but another two goals gave Magheracloone a 4-12 to 2-12 win that earned them a fourth-place finish. We need all support possible for this Sunday’s semi-final at Gavan Duffy Park. Please note that the throw-in time has been put back to 2.30 due to the sad death of Brian Murphy, whose Funeral Mass takes place on Sunday.

Team and scorers: Ashley White; Niall Treanor, Nicholas Scott, Kevin Loughran; Dean Fanning (1-2, 0-1f), Conor Galligan (Capt., 0-1), Michael Galligan; Peter Coyle, Stephen Driver; Nicholas Treanor (0-3), Fearghal McMahon (1-1, 0-1f), Dónal Hahessy (0-2f); Liam Hahessy (0-1), Shane Smyth (0-1), Éimhín Morahan (0-1).

Subs: Paul Rushe for L Hahessy, Conor Forde for McMahon (both H-T), Evan Doherty for Morahan (57 mins), Aidan Connell for M Galligan (59).

 

Presentation: The club’s juvenile presentation night takes place in the clubhouse on Saturday week, November 14, along with the launch of our 2016 calendar. See more details in next week’s notes.

 

AGM: The club’s Annual General Meeting takes place in the clubhouse on Thursday, November 26 at 7.30pm. Nomination forms have been sent out to club members and must be returned to Lorcan McAdam by next Thursday. The Juvenile AGM is due to take place the previous Thursday night (November 19).

 

Balloon Race: The Great Harps Balloon Race was won by Marcus Meehan, whose balloon (number 608) was found the furthest away, in Wolverhampton, England, all of 230 miles from Monaghan. Congratulations to Marcus, who wins an iPad, and seller Ben McElwain. Thanks again to everyone who supported the Balloon Race.

 

Know Your Sport: Emmet McWilliams now leads the way in our Know Your Sport predictions competition on 15 points after New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup win.

 

Coaching Conference: Monaghan Coaching & Games run their now bi-annual coaching conference this Saturday, November 7 in Our Lady’s Secondary School, Castleblayney. The conference will target all club coaches from juvenile to senior level and anybody with an interest in coaching and promoting Gaelic Games. See Monaghan GAA website for more details.

 

Gavan Duffy Park: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 or Pádraig Callan on 087 2139188 for more information. Anyone looking to book the clubhouse for meetings, functions, etc. is asked to please give a week’s notice for convenience.

 

Hurling:

Juveniles: Juvenile training continues every Sunday morning in Rooskey at 12pm.

Ulster Minor Club Championship: Having recorded a win and a loss against Keady earlier in the year this matchup had all the potential for a closely contested affair, however last Sunday’s Ulster minor club semi-final proved to pose a much greater challenge for the Harps squad than the two previous outings as it was 9 players lighter than the squad that contested the county championship final at the end of August. The result on the day was by no means reflective of this squad’s ability or the efforts that had been put in since early March when an Ulster title was made a prime target. That said, credit to the 15 lads and their management that travelled to Ballinascreen and put in a huge effort and represented their club with pride. The opening 10 minutes of the semi-final showed promise of the entertaining affair we had hoped for but when Keady hit a purple patch, coupled with a strong breeze towards the Harps goal, they gained a stranglehold on the match and didn’t relent until the half-time whistle blew. The second half was a different affair as Keady found themselves up against a more stubborn Harps team who to their credit didn’t give up when it may have been easier to do so. Instead, Keady were held to 5 second half points with the Harps converting 1-3 in the same time. Unfortunately the damage had been done in the first half and Keady finished convincing winners on a 0-31 to 1-4 scoreline. Well done to all the lads for their efforts throughout the year and their league and championship double achievements should not be forgotten amidst Sunday’s understandable frustration and disappointment. Na Cláirsigh Abú!

Team & scorers: Cillian Sherry; Liam Neeson, Dylan McAree, Anthony Greenan; Ruairí Forde, Reece Treanor, Aidan Burns; Cathal Power (Capt., 1-1), Kieran McQuaid; Nathan O’Donoghue (0-1), Mark Murphy, Conor Flynn (0-2); Michael Gissane, Ciarán Cassidy, Andrew Connolly.