Monaghan Harps notes

Fixtures: Friday, July 27: U-15 FC Division Four/Five v Ballybay (Home) at 6.30pm

Saturday, July 28: SFL v Magheracloone (Away) at 8pm; U-13 FL Division One v Clones (Home) at 12pm

Sunday, July 29: U-15 FL Division Five Cup v Seán McDermotts (Away) at 7pm

Monday, July 30: U-13 HL S-F v Castleblayney (Away) at 6.45pm

Wednesday, August 1: RFL Division 1B S-F v Killanny (Home) at 7.30pm

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 1, 7, 11 and 13. Jackpot of €3,000 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Martin McCarville c/o Séamus Treanor; €40 Corey Duffy c/o Brian O’Sullivan (Hurling Club); €40 Benny Coyle c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Kay ‘Pat Jack’ c/o Barry Sullivan. Jackpot for Sunday, July 29 is €3,100 and Helen and John Hahessy 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.

Seniors: We lost out at home to Scotstown in the Shoe City Senior Football League last Friday. Some fine scores by Éimhín Morahan and another from Dean Fanning kept us in touch in a first half that ended with Scotstown leading by 0-10 to 0-6. Aidan Burns, Éimhín and Liam Hahessy kicked points in the second half and Dylan McKenna punched to the net to give us hope ten minutes from time, only for Scotstown to respond to run out winners by 2-17 to 1-10.

Team and scorers: Emmett McArdle; Thomas Croarkin, Aidan Burns (0-1), Niall Ward; Niall McManus, Conor Galligan, David Lowry; Stephen Driver, Dylan McKenna (1-0); Michael Galligan, Nicholas Scott (Capt.), Éimhín Morahan (0-7, 3f); Liam Hahessy (0-1f), Dean Fanning (0-1), Shane McMahon.

Subs: Jamie Shields for McManus, Francis Lynch for M Galligan, Conor McCrystal for McMahon (all H-T), John Mulligan for Ward (52).

We are away to Magheracloone this Saturday at 8pm.

Reserves: The Platinum Tanks Reserve Championship O’Duffy Cup Final against Scotstown was down for decision on Wednesday. Next Wednesday night sees us host Killanny in the RFL Division 1B semi-final. All support welcome.

Minors/U-17: Our minors exited the U-18 Championship with a 3-16 to 2-12 loss away to Inniskeen on Tuesday, July 17. Our U-17s now await the start of their league.

U-15: We qualified for the Manor Farm U-15 Football Championship Division One Final with a 3-9 to 1-8 win at home to Emyvale last Thursday. A goal by the hard-working Kevin Moran and points from Jamie Coyle, Shay Cooney and Jake Power had us 1-3 to 0-2 up after 12 minutes, but our lead was down to just one point by half-time after a wasteful second-quarter performance. An improved showing after the restart saw Jake find the net either side of points by Shay, Kevin and Josh Kelly. A goal from Jamie out us beyond reach, with Ben Myers also on target, and although Emyvale hit a few late scores, our lads had done enough to advance to the final against either Donaghmoyne or Magheracloone.

Team and scorers: Karol Parszywka; Jake McConnon, James Curley, Josh Lavery; Gary Devlin, Liam Conway (Capt.), Shea Swift; Tiarnán O’Rourke, Kevin Moran (1-2); Jamie Coyle (1-1), Jake Power (1-1, 0-1f), Daragh Croarkin; Josh Kelly (0-1f), Ben Myers (0-2, 1f), Shay Cooney (0-2, 1f).

Sub used: Luke McManus.

Our rearranged Division Four/Five Championship opener at home to Carrickmacross took place on Monday evening. Luke McManus, Conor Treanor, Ben Myers, Karol Parszywka, Gary Devlin and Josh Kelly were all on the scoresheet in the opening half as we opened up a 2-9 to 2-4 lead. The gap widened with a string of scores by Luke, Josh and Ben before Carrick rallied late on. Some determined defending kept us well clear, however, with late scores by Eoin McCleary and Josh making the final score 5-15 to 4-8 in our favour.

Team and scorers: Oisín Reilly; Jordan Crampton, Jake McConnon; Gregory O’Connell, Gary Devlin (0-1), Dylan McClave; Ben Myers (Capt., 1-1), Josh Lavery; Josh Kelly (1-3), Luke McManus (1-8, 1-0 ’45, 0-1f), Eoin McCleary (0-1f); Conor Treanor (1-1), Karol Parszywka (1-0).

Our Division Five team are due to play at home to Ballybay in the championship on Friday and away to Seán McDermotts in the league on Sunday.

U-13: Congratulations to our U-13s on winning the Gerry’s Prepared Veg. Division Five/Six Championship Final in Blackhill last Thursday. A high-scoring thriller produced 16 goals between our lads and their opponents from Carrickmacross. The Harps boys were 6-4 to 2-7 up at half-time and they went on to secure a win on the remarkable scoreline of 10-10 to 6-11, via a great team effort, with several players on the scoresheet.

Our winning panel was: Oisín McGeown, Fergal Magee, Ali Galligan, Max Mallen, Ethan McCaffrey, Kyle Cooney, James Gunn, John McCrystal (Capt.), Dónal Moran, Dara Mullin, Eoin Sheridan, Oisín Treanor, Julian Coyle, Rory Conway, Diarmuid McGinnity, Jack Corrigan, Rohann Malocca-McKenna. Well done to the players and management.

Last Saturday’s scheduled Division Five league game against Carrick was postponed. Our U-13 Division One team are due to host Clones this Saturday at 12 noon, with their Championship Final against Carrick scheduled for Saturday week (August 4).

U-11: Our U-11 teams continued the Liam Stirrat Development League with a double-header away to Corduff last Saturday. The next games are at home to Scotstown, due to be played on August 4.

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 upon us so please return cards as soon as possible.

County: Good luck to team captain Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh, Lochlainn Power and the Monaghan minor footballers in Saturday’s All-Ireland MFC Quarter-Final against Kildare in Mullingar.

Summer Camps: Our own Harps Summer Camp is coming up on the week of August 20-24.

Dates to remember: Our Family Fun Day and Mick Farrell Tournament are scheduled for August 18 and 25, respectively. Our own Harps Summer Camp is set for August 20-24.

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: We hosted Carrick on Monday evening in the U-13 championship semi-final. An assured performance from the Harps saw them run out convincing 2-8 to 1-3 winners. It was a determined performance from back to front. The backs repelled numerous Carrick attacks, while the forwards made it difficult for Carrick to pick out passes and indeed can consider themselves unlucky not to see their hard work rewarded with a few more scores. We had five scorers on the evening, while the backs held the Carrick attackers to only four scores throughout. Well done to Jim, Adrian and the squad, who now progress to the final against Castleblayney on Sunday, August 5.

Team & scorers: Oisín McGeown, Oisín McPhillips, Rylan McCooey, Enda Brady, Seán Callan (0-3), James Brady, Ethan Ballantine, Cian Bradley (1-2), Nicholas Sherlock, Oisín Murray (0-1), Matthew McGuinness (1-1), Jack McDonald (0-1), Odhrán Connolly.

U-15: We lost out by the narrowest of margins to Carrick in the championship semi-final last Sunday morning in a great, open game of hurling in Rooskey. Although we registered more scores than Carrick, the old saying of ‘goals win games’ rang true as they finished 2-7 to 3-5 winners. Overall, our lads performed excellently. Though slower to start, once we got going we dominated for long periods, particularly in the second half. Liam Conway and Aidan McKenna were to the fore for the Harps, however there were stand-out performances from back to front. Oisín McGeown made his debut in goals, yet his poc outs showed all the composure of an experienced head and he also made a couple of great saves when called upon. Gary Treanor, Gary Devlin and Rylan McCooey marshalled the full-back line superbly, while Declan McKenna and Ethan Ballantine kept things solid through the middle. Cian Bradley was instrumental in turning defence into attack, with Oisín Murray, James Brady and Jack McDonald always providing an outlet in the forward line. Well done to the team and management who now return their attention to the remainder of the league campaign.

Senior: Saint Macartan’s take on Castleblayney in the last round of the championship group stage this evening at 7.45pm in Truagh.

Juvenile Coaching: Coaching for juveniles continues every Sunday in Rooskey between 12 noon and 1.30pm.