Fixtures: Thursday, July 25: U-15 FL Division One Shield Final v Clontibret in Tyholland at 7.30pm
Friday, July 26: IFL v Emyvale (Away) at 8pm
Saturday, July 27: U-13 FC Division Five v Carrickmacross (Away) at 2pm
Monday, July 29: U-13 HL v Latton (Home) at 7.30pm
Tuesday, July 30: U-17 FL Division One v Latton (Away) at 7.30pm
Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 11, 15, 22 and 26. Jackpot of €2,700 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Martin Treacy c/o Barry Sullivan; €40 Aodhán Óg McAnespie c/o himself (senior footballers); €40 Mickey Flood c/o Séamus Treanor; €40 Ann McCague c/o Paddy Donnelly. Jackpot for Sunday, July 28 is €2,800 and Gráinne and Owen Connell 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 has now played a critical role in our club’s funding for 25 years.
Race night: We will be hosting a fundraising ‘race night’ in our clubhouse on Friday week, August 2. All support would be appreciated. More details to follow.
Seniors: We hosted Cremartin in the Monaghan Electrical Intermediate Football League last Friday. We led throughout the game on a very difficult night for football, with scores from Shane McMahon, Liam Hahessy, Lochlainn Power, Shane Smyth and Michael Galligan leaving us 0-11 to 1-4 up at half-time. Scores became harder-earned as conditions worsened again during the second half, but the game finished out and points from Niall Greenan, Liam, Shane McMahon and Shane Smyth secured a return to winning ways on a 0-16 to 1-7 scoreline.
Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon; Thomas Croarkin, Aodhán Óg McAnespie (Capt.), Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh; John Mulligan, Kevin Loughran, Conor Duffy; Stephen Driver, Dylan McKenna; Shane McMahon (0-4, 3f), Liam Hahessy (0-5, 3f), Niall Greenan (0-1); Lochlainn Power (0-2), Shane Smyth (0-3), Michael Galligan (0-1).
Subs used: Neil McAdam, Nicholas Scott, James McKenna, Niall McManus, Conor McCrystal.
We make the short journey to Emyvale tomorrow night (Friday) at 8pm. Please support!
Reserves: We qualified for the RFL Division 1B semi-final with a hard-earned win at home to Killanny last Wednesday. Scores from Shane McMahon, Conor McCrystal, Dylan McKenna and Niall Greenan helped us take a narrow first-half lead and with Shane and Conor both finding the net in quick succession, we eventually pulled away. Francis Lynch and Thomas Croarkin added a goal apiece and with Evan Doherty also on target, we stretched our lead, before Killanny rallied in the closing stages. We had done enough to secure a 4-13 to 2-13 win that set up a semi-final away to Ballybay, where we lost out by 2-15 to 2-7, ending our reserve season.
Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon; Conor Duffy, Conn O’Hanlon, Jamie Shields; Thomas Croarkin (1-0), John Mulligan, Kevin Lyden; James McKenna (Capt.), Dylan McKenna (0-2); Niall McManus, Shane McMahon (1-4, 0-2f), Niall Greenan (0-1); Conor McCrystal (1-4, 0-3f), Evan Doherty (0-2, 1f), Francis Lynch (1-0).
Subs: Brendan Óg Ó Dufaigh for Lyden, Conor Callan for D McKenna (black card), Colm Shalvey for McManus, Nathan O’Donoghue for Greenan, Conor Devlin for Duffy, Niall Treanor for Shields (black card).
Minors: We hosted Carrickmacross in the U-17 Football League Division One last Tuesday evening. Goals from Daragh Croarkin and Terence McDonald got us off to a strong start, but Carrick battled back and closed the gap to 3-4 to 0-6 by half-time. Shay Cooney and Dylan Ballantine found the net during the second half, with Jake Power also on target, but we allowed Carrick back into it late on and had to endure a nervy finish. We held on to win on a scoreline of 5-8 to 3-11. Our game away to Latton has been rescheduled for next Tuesday.
Team and scorers: Jason Allister; Cathal Nally, Nathan Lavery, James Curley; Kevin Moran, Liam Conway, James McKenny; Dylan Ballantine (1-0), Tiarnán O’Rourke; Joshua Clerkin, Terence McDonald (1-1), Dean Doherty (Capt.); Jake Power (0-3), Daragh Croarkin (2-2, 0-2f), Shay Cooney (1-2, 0-2f).
Subs used: Jamie Coyle, Mark McManus, Gary Devlin.
U-15: Our U-15 Division One team contest the shield final against Clontibret in Tyholland this evening (Thursday) at 7.30pm. Please support! The U-15 championships are due to start next week.
U-13: Our U-13 Division One team have a bye in the first round of their championship this weekend. Our Division Five side are due to start their championship with an away game against Carrickmacross on Saturday.
U-11: Our U-11s had a bye in the Liam Stirrat Development League last weekend. Our annual Mick Farrell Tournament will take place in September. More details later.
County: Good luck to Daragh Croarkin and the Monaghan minor footballers in Sunday’s All-Ireland MFC quarter-final against Cork in Tullamore.
Coaching: Our Saturday-morning coaching for our youngest players is up and running for 2019. The club is very fortunate to have a pool of hardworking and dedicated individuals who look after and coach these “early learners”. Our Saturday-morning activities are fun-filled and enjoyed by the children and are an equally rewarding and enjoyable experience to those who help make it happen, so we encourage anyone with an interest to get involved.
Pitches: Training schedules for all teams are in place. Coaches are asked to please ensure that gates and dressing rooms are locked and to remove all equipment, bottles etc. from the pitch after training sessions.
Hurling:
U-15: On Monday evening, we hosted Castleblayney in the second round of the league. The lads battled hard for most of the first half but struggled to compete with a strong opposition who gave us very few scoring chances. Our captain, Gary Devlin, started the match in goals and he tried his best to provide the foundation for attacks by spreading his puck-outs to the wings. Cian Bradley put in a hard-working display at midfield, dropping back to help out his defence when needed. Oisín Connolly, Luke McManus and Rylan McCooey were resolute in defence throughout the first half. In the second half, our half-forwards started to make their mark on the game with Ethan Ballantine and the Brady twins providing much more of an attacking threat. Gary Devlin moved out to midfield for the second half which also helped to get more ball into the forwards. We managed to knock over a few scores, including one from Oisín McGeown, which gave us something to bring into our next game against Truagh in two weeks’ time.
Notes: Anyone who has news for inclusion in the club notes can send an email to pro.monaghanharps.monaghan@gaa.ie by Tuesday morning.
By cshalvey Thu 25th Jul
