Fixtures: Tuesday, April 19: Under-14 FC Division One v Magheracloone (Away) at 7pm

Wednesday, April 10: Under-21 FL Division Two v Donaghmoyne (Home) at 7pm

Thursday, April 11: Development HL v Carrickmacross (Away) at 7pm; Under-16 FL Division One v Clontibret (Home) at 6.30pm

Saturday, April 13: SFL v Rockcorry (Home) at 7pm; Under-12 Football Spring League Zone A v Emyvale (Away) at 1.15pm; Zone B v Emyvale (A) at 12pm; Under-14 HC v Inniskeen (Home) at 5pm

Sunday, April 14: RFL Division 3 v Feargal O’Hanlons (Home) at 2pm

Monday, April 15: Under-14 HL v Castleblayney (Away) at 6.45pm

Tuesday, April 16: MFL Division One v Scotstown (Away) at 7.15pm

Wednesday, April 17: SFL v Scotstown (Away) at 7.15pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 9, 16, 20 and 28. Jackpot of €4,150 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Ashley White c/o himself; €40 Chris O’Connell c/o Ciarán Cuddy; €40 Noel Hackett c/o Paddy Donnelly; €40 Pat McMahon c/o Madge Harden. Jackpot for Sunday, April 14 is €4,300 and Rose Hughes and Noel Hennessy are on duty. All welcome. Anyone who has sold a direct-debit is asked to pass the details on to the Lotto committee as soon as possible, so they can be entered into our weekly draw straight away. The Monaghan Harps Lotto plays an integral role in the running of the club. If you want to volunteer to get involved in any way (e.g. selling tickets), please contact any committee member.

 

Meetings: The club’s monthly meetings for April take place in the clubhouse this Thursday: juveniles at 7pm, senior at 8pm. There is an important lotto meeting in the clubhouse on Wednesday at 8.30pm.

 

Seniors: We play our first home game of this year’s SFL against Rockcorry this Saturday at 7pm, before making the short trip to Scotstown for a 7.15pm throw-in on Wednesday. All support welcome!

 

Reserves: We lost out in two closely-contested RFL Division 1A games last week. First was a 1-10 to 0-9 defeat in Castleblayney last Wednesday. We started brightly with points from David Loughran and Paddy Connolly, but could only add one point to our tally in the remainder of the half, with Blayney taking a 1-6 to 0-3 half-time lead. We also started the second half well, with Emmett McArdle, David and Pat Murphy on target, but despite creating a number of goal chances, we were unable to find the Blayney net.

Team and scorers: Mark Hughes; Niall Treanor, Rónán Garvey (Capt.), Darren McMahon; Kevin Loughran, Conor Devlin, Dean McMahon; Paddy Connolly (0-1), Paul Rushe; Pat Murphy (0-1), Robbie Moyna, Michael Galligan; David Loughran (0-3, 2f), Emmett McArdle (0-4, 2 ‘45s, 1f), Niall Greenan.

Subs: Aidan Connell for Dean McMahon, Gary Trappe for Murphy, Gerard Gilsenan for Moyna.

Next up, we were edged out by 1-14 to 1-12 at home to Magheracloone on Saturday. Despite a number of absentees stretching our resources, we competed well in the first half and took the lead through a goal by Gerard Gilsenan and points by Emmett McArdle, Conor McCaughey and David Loughran, but Magheracloone came back to lead by 1-7 to 1-6 at half-time. The visitors moved four points clear early in the second half and although points by Paddy Connolly, Michael Galligan, David and Conor Devlin kept us in touch, we fell just short in the end.

Team and scorers: Mark Hughes; Aidan Connell, Robbie Moyna, Pat Murphy; Colm Shalvey, Conor Devlin (0-1), Fionntán Cassidy; Paddy Connolly (0-1), Rónán Garvey (Capt.); Michael Galligan (0-1f), Emmett McArdle (0-3, 1f), Conor McCaughey (0-1); David Loughran (0-4, 1f), Gerard Gilsenan (1-0), Gary Trappe.

Subs: Brendan McQuaid for Shalvey (inj.), Finnian McKenna for Trappe.

This Sunday, it’s the turn of the RFL Division 3 team, who host Feargal O’Hanlons at 2pm.

 

Minors: The minor footballers made a good start to the league with a convincing win in Magheracloone last Tuesday, with the foundations set by a fine first half. The lads went on to win the Hearty Shield in a sevens tournament in Silverbridge last Saturday morning. After a tough day of games, our lads still had enough in the tank to come from seven points down (4-2 to 2-1) at half-time in the final to produce a strong second-half performance and pip Mullaghbawn on a scoreline of 4-5 to 4-4. Well done to the players involved: Thomas Bourke, David Carey, Jason McHugh, Evan Morahan, Mustafa Gamal, Marc Brennan, Niall Duffy, Conor Burns, Thomas Lynch and James Keelaghan. This week’s game against Carrickmacross has been postponed due to a death in the Carrick club, but the minors are away to Scotstown next Tuesday.

 

Under-21s: Our Under-21 footballers begin their league campaign at home to Donaghmoyne tomorrow night (Wednesday).

 

U-16: Our Under-16 footballers were beaten by a strong St. Patrick’s amalgamation last Thursday. The lads are at home to Clontibret this Thursday at 6.30pm.

 

U-14: The Under-14 Division One footballers picked up another two league wins last week, starting last Tuesday when they eased to victory at home to Magheracloone on Tuesday. A brace of goals by Thomas Croarkin and points by Nathan O’Donoghue, Ethan Murphy and Ben Kearns-Flynn had the Harps ahead by 2-4 to 0-2 by the end of the first quarter and further goals by Michael Mulligan and Ethan, along with points from Aidan Burns and Thomas made the half-time score 4-6 to 0-3. Points by Michael, Nathan and Thomas were our only scores of an evenly-matched third quarter, but despite spending the final period with 12 players, our lads pulled further clear thanks to two majors by Michael and points by Ben, Ethan and Thomas, which made the final score 6-12 to 0-8.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Seán McKenna, Anthony Greenan; Niall Ward, Aidan Burns (0-1), Ultan O’Rourke; Ben Kearns-Flynn (0-2), Jamie Shields; Zach Mallon, Ethan Murphy (1-2), Thomas Croarkin (Capt., 2-4); Nathan O’Donoghue (0-2), Michael Mulligan (3-1).

The lads ran up another big score away to Scotstown on Saturday. The Harps made a great start, with goals by Michael Mulligan and Thomas Croarkin opening up a healthy lead. The scores continued to flow in the second quarter and although Scotstown improved as the game went on, further goals by Ethan Murphy and Michael sealed a 6-16 to 2-3 win for our lads. The Under-14s are away to Magheracloone in the championship tonight (Tuesday) and we wish all involved the best of luck.

Team and scorers: Dylan McAree; Seán McKenna, Anthony Greenan; Niall Ward, Aidan Burns, Ultan O’Rourke; Ben Kearns-Flynn (0-1), Jamie Shields; Conor McCrystal (0-3, 1f), Ethan Murphy (1-3, 0-1f), Thomas Croarkin (Capt., 1-2, 0-1f); Nathan O’Donoghue (0-3), Michael Mulligan (3-4, 0-1f).

Subs used: Colin Peppard, Ryan McKenna, Oisín Power, Adam O’Neill.

The Under-14 Division Five team also got a game under their belts last Saturday when they played Scotstown in a challenge match.

 

U-12: The Under-12 Football Spring Leagues continue this Saturday with another double-header, this time away to Emyvale, starting at 12 noon.

 

Hurling: The senior team followed last week’s U-14 and minor wins with their own victory at home to Truagh last Thursday evening. With the Harps racing to a ten point lead at half time, the game finished with a score line of 1-11 to 1-5. Scorers: Donal Hahessy 0-3; Alan Ryan 0-3 (2f, 1 ’65); Shane Feeney 1-0; Kieran O’Mahoney, Conor Curley 0-2 each; Darren McGill 0-1.

Club fixtures for this week are: Seniors away v Carrick on Thursday, April 11 and U-14 championship home v Inniskeen on Saturday, April 13 @ 5pm (note change of time). Senior players are also reminded that their membership fees are due.

The club would also like to extend their congratulations to the whole of the county Monaghan minor panel on their victory in the Ulster Minor Hurling League Division Two final last weekend. We would like to congratulate in particular our club members; Tiarnán Bramley, Ciarán McQuaid, Conor Burns, Conor O’Neill and Paul Bannon, along with their coach Alan Ryan.

 

Saturday morning coaching: Our coaching for Under-10s resumed last week and will continue every Saturday morning from 10.30-11.30. It was good to see some old and new faces back again last week and all aspiring Harps players are welcome to attend. Anyone who wants to help out in any way is also more than welcome to get involved.

 

Harps watches: We are now selling wrist-watches with the Harps crest for €10. Contact Liadhan Treanor at 086 7837204 for more details.

 

County teams: Well done to Neil McAdam, Conor Galligan and the Monaghan senior footballers, who secured promotion in the NFL with a good win over Antrim. Congratulations also to the minor hurlers and footballers for their wins last weekend.

 

The Gathering: We are organising some events for current and former Harps players and members to coincide with the ‘Gathering’ initiative. It is hoped to have the first of these next month. Anyone willing to get involved can contact any committee member.

 

Scoláireachtaí Gaeltachta: Interviews for Gaeltacht Scholarships to Coláiste Bhríde, Rann Na Feirste will be held in GAA Administration Office, Cloghan on Saturday, April 20. Interviews for students who are pre Junior Cert will start at 10am, while interviews for post- Junior Cert and Leaving Cert students will begin at 11.30am. No pre-booking is required.