Fixtures: Thursday, June 21: U-15 FL Division One v Donaghmoyne (Home); U-15 FL Division Five v Ballybay (Away) at 8pm
Friday, June 22: U-13 FC Division Four Final: Killeevan v Tyholland at Gavan Duffy Park at 7.15pm; U-11 Zone A v Carrickmacross (Away) at 7pm; Zone B at 8pm
Sunday, June 24: RFL Division 1B v Killanny (Home) at 12.30pm
Monday, June 25: U-15 HL v Castleblayney (Away) at 7.30pm; U-13 FC Division Three Final: Doohamlet v Emyvale at Gavan Duffy Park at 7.15pm
Wednesday, June 27: RFL Division 2B v Aghabog (Home) at 8pm; U-13 FC Division Five/Six v Scotstown (Away) at 7.15pm
Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 8, 11, 20 and 28. Jackpot of €2,500 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Mary Coyle c/o Fergus Coyle; €40 Peadar Callan c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Owen & Gráinne Connell (direct debit) c/o Owen Connell; €40 Hugh McCague c/o Séamus Treanor. Jackpot for Sunday, June 24 is €2,600 and Mary McRory, Úna Forde and Rose Donnelly are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in our clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome. Thanks to everyone for their support for our Lotto, which plays a critical role in our club’s funding. We ask all club members to continue to promote our Lotto as much as possible.
Street collection: Our annual street collection took place throughout town last Friday and Saturday. This is a very important fundraiser for our club and we are grateful to everyone who supported it, all club members who volunteered their time over the weekend and to the juvenile committee, led by Damien Morgan, Noreen McMorrow and Úna Forde, for their work in organising it.
Golf Classic: The 2018 Monaghan Harps GAA Club Golf Classic concluded last week, with the presentation taking place at Rossmore Golf Club on Friday night. The prize winners were as follows: 1st team: Nissan (M O’Reilly, L Lenihan, R Rutledge & B Morris); 2nd team: Heineken (M Sammon, G Kerr, S McElroy, A Curran, J Ross); 3rd team: C Walker, J Creighan, P O’Reilly, G Maguire; 4th team: T Gilsenan, P Mulligan, P McNeill; 5th team: Westenra (O McMahon, R McParland). Thanks to Soleire Electrical, all other sponsors and to everyone involved in organising our Golf Classic, including Fergus Coyle, Harry Dwyer, John Hahessy, Séamus McManus and Kevin Treanor. Thanks also to family members of the late Ollie Clerkin for attending as we presented the cup named in his honour.
Sponsor a Seat: To celebrate and promote the continued development of our facilities at Gavan Duffy Park, we are offering the unique opportunity to sponsor/dedicate a seat in our stand at a cost of €50. See our club website (monaghanharps.gaa.ie) or contact Club Secretary Val Forde (secretary.monaghanharps.monaghan@gaa.ie), Chairman Jimmy Croarkin (087 1249635) or any committee member for more details. Please note that the deadline for sponsoring a seat is June 23.
Seniors: We fell to a 3-15 to 2-13 defeat at home to Truagh in the Shoe City Senior Football League last Saturday. A disappointing first half saw us change ends trailing by 1-11 to 0-7, in spite of points from Gary White, Éimhín Morahan, Liam Hahessy and Shane Smyth. Truagh added a second goal after the restart to stretch their lead further, before a Harps comeback saw Shane Smyth and Conor McCrystal find the net to close the gap to two points, with Dean Fanning, Michael Galligan and Liam also on target. Truagh responded once more, however, to put the game beyond our reach in the closing minutes.
Team and scorers: Emmett McArdle; Gareth Treanor, Conor Galligan, Mustafa Gamal; Kevin Loughran, Niall Hahessy, David Lowry; Stephen Driver (Capt.), Gary White (0-1); Dean Fanning (0-1), Éimhín Morahan (0-3f), Thomas Croarkin; Liam Hahessy (0-4, 2f), Shane Smyth (1-1), Francis Lynch.
Subs: Dónal McCarthy for White, Conor McCrystal (1-2) for N Hahessy, Jamie Shields for Gamal (all H-T), James McKenna for Driver (inj., 33 mins), Michael Galligan (0-1) for Lynch (43), Shane McMahon for Treanor (inj., 56).
Reserves: We had a hard-earned win away to Cremartin in the Platinum Tanks RFL Division 1B last Wednesday. A much-changed team had to grind out a low-scoring 0-9 to 0-7 win in difficult conditions. Points from Nathan O’Donoghue and Dylan McKenna had us narrowly ahead at half-time and with Conor Duffy and subs Éimhín Morahan and Conor McCrystal on target in the closing stages, we got over the line.
Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Niall Ward, John Mulligan, Turlough Clerkin; Conor Duffy (0-1), David Lowry, Mustafa Gamal (Capt.); Dylan McKenna (0-1), Dónal McCarthy; Conor Forde, Shane McMahon, Garbhan McKenna; Nathan O’Donoghue (0-3, 2f), Jason McHugh, Colm Shalvey (0-1).
Subs: Éimhín Morahan (0-2, 1f) for G McKenna, Conor McCrystal (0-1) for Shalvey, Francis Lynch for McHugh.
We won away to Clones in the RFL Division 2B last night (Wednesday), while we are due to host Killanny in Division 1B this Sunday and Aghabog in Division 2B next Wednesday.
U-13: Our U-13 Division One team started a good week with a win away to Castleblayney in their championship opener last Tuesday (June 12), when an impressive performance saw them tun out winners by 6-18 to 2-9. They returned to Blayney for a league game on Saturday. This was a similar story, with goals from Morgan Coyle and Eoin O’Hanlon and a string of points from Eoin, Cian Bradley, Senan Cudden, Shay Kelly and Fionán Ó Gallchóir earning a 2-11 to 1-1 half-time lead. Eoin added another goal after the restart and with the Harps attack continuing to shine, the boys won out by 3-21 to 4-7.
Team and scorers: Ethan Ballantine; Dáire Conlon, Ethan McCaffrey; Mark Clerkin, Shane Moran, Cian Bradley (Capt., 0-8); Jack Lynch, Eoin O’Hanlon (2-6, 0-2f); Shay Kelly (0-2), Senan Cudden (0-2), Kyle Cooney; Morgan Coyle (1-0), Fionán Ó Gallchóir (0-3).
Next up was the championship semi-final at home to Clones on Monday. Our lads again had the firepower to secure the win, with goals from Eoin O’Hanlon, Jack Lynch and Shay Kelly and points from Cian Bradley and Fionán Ó Gallchóir seeing the Harps rack up 4-8 in the first half. Jack Lynch and Kyle Cooney went on to add further goals and with Fionán and Morgan Coyle also on target, a 6-12 to 2-3 win saw our lads through to a final against Carrickmacross, with details of that fixture not known at the time of writing.
Team and scorers: Oisín Reilly; Ethan McCaffrey, Mark Clerkin; Cian Bradley (Capt., 0-2), Shane Moran, Dáire Conlon; Jack Lynch (2-0), Eoin O’Hanlon (1-1); Senan Cudden, Seán Callan, Shay Kelly (2-2); Ethan Ballantine, Fionán Ó Gallchóir (0-6, 1f).
Subs used: Dara Mullen, Morgan Coyle (0-1), Kyle Cooney (1-0).
Our Division Five team hosted Donaghmoyne in the league on Saturday. An entertaining first half saw the lads earn a slender lead, but an accurate Donaghmoyne side gained the upper hand as the game went on to run out convincing winners. This team also have a championship semi-final away to Scotstown next Wednesday at 7.15pm.
U-17: The U-17 Football League will get underway on Saturday, July 7. Our U-17s will begin their campaign with an away game against Carrickmacross.
U-15: The U-15 Football Leagues are due to resume this evening (Thursday). Check online to confirm fixtures.
U-11: Our U-11 teams continue the new Liam Stirrat Development League away to Carrickmacross tomorrow (Friday), with the games throwing in at 7pm and 8pm.
County: Good luck to Neil McAdam and the Monaghan senior footballers against Waterford in Dungarvan on Saturday.
Gavan Duffy Park: Thanks to everyone who helped us host a blitz for U-9 and U-7 footballers at Gavan Duffy Park last Saturday. We host two U-13 FC Finals this week: between Killeevan and Tyholland in Division Four on Friday and between Doohamlet and Emyvale in Division Three on Monday. Both games throw in at 7.15pm. We are also facilitating Ulster Community Games Gaelic Football finals this Saturday from 11.30am. All help appreciated for all of the above games.
Dates to remember: Our Family Fun Day and Mick Farrell Tournament are pencilled in for August 18 and 25, respectively. The Kellogg’s Cúl Camp returns to Gavan Duffy Park from July 9-13, with our own Summer Camp scheduled for August 20-24.
Sympathy: At the last two monthly club meeting, votes of sympathy were passed to the families of Seamie Bell, Kevin Conlon, Maeve Smyth and Michael Shalvey. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha. Club members were among the many who took part in guards of honour last Thursday as Seamie Bell’s Funeral procession passed through Monaghan town.
Notes: Anyone who has news for inclusion in the club notes can send an email to pro.monaghanharps.monaghan@gaa.ie by Tuesday morning.
Clubhouse: The Monaghan Harps clubhouse is available to book for functions. Contact Jimmy Croarkin on 087 1249635 or Pádraig Callan on 087 2543511 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:
U-13 Championship: The U-13s returned to club action in the Monaghan championship last Thursday when they travelled to take on Clontibret. A closely-contested game ended in a 3-6 to 1-7 win for the Harps, helped by good performances from Oisín McPhillips in goal along with James Brady and Cian Bradley in the backs. Seán Callan accounted for 1-3, with Nicholas Sherlock contributing 2-2 and Ethan Ballantine adding a point. Well done to the squad who now progress to the semi-final against Carrick, which is fixed for July 23.
Juvenile Coaching: Coaching for juveniles continues every Sunday in Rooskey between 12 noon and 1.30pm.
By cshalvey Thu 21st Jun
