Fixtures: Wednesday, June 19: RFL Division Three v Killanny (Home) at 8pm; Under-12 FL Division 2B v Tyholland (Away) at 7pm

Thursday, June 20: SHC v Carrickmacross (Away) at 8pm; Under-16 FL Division One v St. Patrick’s (Home) at 7.30pm

Friday, June 21: RFC Division Three Semi-Final v Aghabog (Away) at 7.30pm

Saturday, June 22: Under-14 FL Division One v Scotstown (Home) at 1.15pm; U-14 FL Division Five v Emerald Sarsfields (Home) at 12pm

Sunday, June 23: RFL Division 1A v Castleblayney (Home) at 12pm

Monday, June 24: Under-16 HL v Inniskeen (Away) at 8pm; U-12 HL v Inniskeen (A) at 6.45pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 1, 2, 4 and 14. Jackpot of €5,400 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Frank McGinn c/o Neil McGinn; €40 Fiona McCaffrey-Jones c/o Barry Sullivan; €40 Emma Croarkin c/o senior footballers; €40 Paddy McDaid c/o Cosy Bar. Jackpot for Sunday, June 23 is €5,500 and Rose Hughes and Noel Hennessy are on duty.

 

Fashion show: Our fashion show takes place at the Hillgrove Hotel this Thursday at 8pm and will star all generations of club members, with the highlight of the night being a celebrity wedding featuring two special guests. A lot of work has gone into preparing this event, which has been driven forward by the ladies of the club, so all support is welcome, with money raised going to the senior footballers’ training fund. Tickets are available from club members for just €10 and doors will open at 7pm. There will also be stalls with cakes, crafts, handbags and jewellery, which will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis at very reasonable prices, so get there early!

 

Street collection: Our annual street collection in aid of the juvenile club takes place all over town this Friday and Saturday. This collection plays a big part in funding the juvenile club and all support is very much appreciated. Please contact Una Forde at 087 6107329 if you can spare two hours over the weekend.

 

Seniors: The senior footballers had mixed fortunes in the league last week, starting with a 1-14 to 0-10 defeat at home to Magheracloone last Wednesday. Nicholas Treanor opened the scoring from a free, but Magheracloone then hit 1-2 without reply, before Shane Smyth kicked our first point from play. Another free from Nicholas and a brace of points from Dónal Hahessy kept our lads in touch, but the goal still separated the teams at half-time: 1-5 to 0-5. Points by Neil McAdam and Ashley White saw our lads make a bright start to the second half, but Magheracloone hit the next four points. Shane Smyth closed the gap with two points, either side of a free by Dónal, but Magheracloone finished strongly to put the game out of our reach.

Team and scorers: Mark Hughes; Niall Hahessy, Shane Coyle, Aodhán Óg McAnespie; Nicholas Scott, Neil McAdam (0-1), Conor Galligan (Capt.); Peter Coyle, Stephen Driver; Brendan McQuaid, Nicholas Treanor (0-2f), Shane Smyth (0-3); Dónal Hahessy (0-3, 1f), Emmett McArdle, Dean Fanning.

Subs: Ashley White (0-1) for McQuaid (25 mins), Kevin Loughran for Fanning (37), Evan Doherty for P Coyle (inj., 39), Jason McHugh for McAdam (inj., 53).

The seniors bounced back with a home win over Castleblayney on Sunday. Dónal Hahessy and Dean Fanning got the Harps off to a good start, before Gerard Gilsenan fired home the opening goal. Nicholas Treanor, Shane Smyth and Dónal added points to make the half-time score 1-5 to 0-4. Dónal hit the first point of the second half and the Harps soon had goal number two from Dean Fanning. Michael Galligan and Dean McMahon added their names to the scoresheet, before Dónal and Dean Fanning secured a 2-11 to 0-12 win.

Team and scorers: Mark Hughes; Kevin Loughran, Aodhán Óg McAnespie, Shane Coyle; Nicholas Scott, Conor Galligan (Capt.), Niall Hahessy; Stephen Driver, Shane Smyth (0-1); Dean McMahon (0-1), Nicholas Treanor (0-1), Michael Galligan (0-1); Dónal Hahessy (0-5, 4f), Gerard Gilsenan (1-0), Dean Fanning (1-2).

Subs: Brendan McQuaid for McMahon (47 mins), Gareth Treanor for Loughran (53).

 

Reserves: We have a Reserve Football Championship Division Three semi-final away to Aghabog this Friday at 7.30pm. All support welcome. We are also due to host Killanny in the RFL Division Three tomorrow night (Wednesday) and Castleblayney in the RFL Division 1A on Sunday.

 

U-14: Our Under-14 Division Five team lost an exciting final against Emerald Sarsfields in Clontibret last Tuesday evening. The Harps recovered from a slow start to play their part in a closely-contested match, but it just wasn’t enough against a strong amalgamated side from Blackhill and Oram. Emerald Sarsfields made most of the running in the first quarter, opening up a 2-4 to 0-2 lead, despite Corey McArdle getting a couple of nice points for the Harps. Our lads conceded a third goal early in the second quarter, but Corey scored a brilliant goal to start our lads’ comeback. Corey added 1-1, before Dylan Maguire and Oisín Fagan hit points to close the gap to just two points at half-time: 3-4 to 2-5. A point from Lorcan O’Rourke kept our lads in touch in the opening minutes of the third quarter and although Emerald Sarsfields hit back with a goal, Corey then completed his hat-trick. The Harps moved ahead for the first time when Oisín found the net, but Emerald Sarsfields rallied to lead by 5-7 to 4-6 going into the final period. Our lads conceded another brace of goals, but they continued to battle right to the final whistle, with points from Corey and Colin Peppard, who added a well-taken goal. Aaron Coyle also kicked a good point, but our lads repeatedly found the Emerald Sarsfields keeper in the way of their attempts to get the goals needed. The lads and their management of Séamus McManus, Val Forde and Brendan Burns can still be proud of their efforts.

Team and scorers: Brendan Óg Duffy; Seán Conway, Shane McCabe, Aaron Coyle (Capt., 0-1); Colin Peppard (1-1), Adam O’Neill; Dylan Maguire (0-1f), Corey McArdle (3-4), Dáire Martin.

Subs used: Lorcan O’Rourke (0-1f), Oisín Fagan (1-1, 0-1f), Stephen Ward, Zach Mallen, Killian Conlon.

Rest of panel: Killian McAdam, Lochlainn Power, Oisín Power, Ryan McKenna.

The Division Five team were up against Emerald Sarsfields in Oram in the league on Saturday. After another slow start, our lads put in another good effort, inspired by super-sub Stephen Ward, only to fall narrowly short.

The Division One team survived a scare to run out narrow winners in Magheracloone on Saturday. Both teams are at home this Saturday, with the Division Five team again facing Emerald Sarsfields at 12 noon and the Division One lads facing Scotstown at 1.15.

 

U-12: The Under-12 Division 2B team are away to Tyholland tomorrow night (Wednesday). The next games for both U-12 teams are on Saturday week.

 

U-10: Our Under-10s had another busy Saturday morning, travelling to Carrickmacross to take part in a blitz, where they again played some excellent football.

 

O-35: Our recreational football team have training again on Thursday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm, ahead of numerous upcoming competitions, including our own on the All-Ireland football final weekend in September. All new players are welcome.

 

Hurling: The Harps U-14 hurlers completed another double with a 4-9 to 2-5 win over Carrickmacross in the league final at Blackhill on Monday night. After conceding the opening point, the Harps got off the mark with a long-range point from midfielder Aidan Burns, before Thomas Croarkin put the Harps in front for the first time. This lead was further extended through a Ben Kearns-Flynn free, before Aidan found the net from a free. Carrick came back to narrow the gap to three, but the Harps response to this was emphatic, with another point each from Thomas and Aidan, along with a great goal from Conor Doyle, whose work-rate throughout was excellent. The Harps struck another telling blow when the impressive captain Dylan McAree broke up a Carrick attack on the edge of his own square, starting a move involving Ben, Aidan and Conor, which set up Colin Peppard to slot the ball past the Carrick keeper. Aidan then expertly fielded the sliotar and powerfully finished into the goal to give the Harps a 4-6 to 0-4 half-time lead. Carrickmacross must be credited on their second-half performance as they never gave up, holding the Harps to three scores. They showed their intent with an early goal, following this up by putting the Harps defence under a period of sustained pressure, only for resilient work from Niall Ward and Seán McKenna and goalkeeper Cillian Sherry to keep Carrick at bay. This lean period was ended by two frees from Aidan Burns, before the Harps had their own period of dominance in which Burns unluckily hit the crossbar after powering through. Carrick did get a goal and a point back, but the Harps weren’t going to finish without having the final say, as Aidan hit the last point. Hopefully the lads will bring this excellent show of team spirit and level of performance through to Féile in Limerick at the beginning of July. Congratulations to the panel and the management of Jim Dalton, Michael O’Donoghue and Thomas McCabe. This is the third year in a row that the double has been achieved at U-14 level by the club. A special achievement that must be noted and congratulated.

Team and scorers: Cillian Sherry; Lochlainn Power, Seán McKenna, John Lowry; Anthony Greenan, Dylan McAree (Capt.), Niall Ward; Aidan Burns (2-6, 1-4f), Thomas Croarkin (0-2); Ben Kearns-Flynn (0-1f), Conor Doyle (1-0), Nathan O’Donoghue; James Bourke, Ethan Murphy, Conor McCrystal.

Subs used: Colin Peppard (1-0), Jorin Connor, Stephen Ward.

Rest of panel: Zach Mallen, Shane McCabe, Seán Conway, Brendan Óg Duffy, Ruairc Healy, Cillian Treanor.

Poc Fada: Good luck to Cathal Power who represents the club and Monaghan in the Ulster Poc Fada in Belfast this Friday.

U-16: Training for all Juveniles, including the U-16s, this Sunday in Rooskey at 12 ahead of the first league fixture away to Inniskeen on Monday at 8.15pm. The U-12s also begin their league campaign in Inniskeen on the same evening at 6.30pm.

Seniors: The seniors got their Championship off to a good start last Thursday with a home win over Truagh. Despite the final score, this game was a much closer contest in the first half than it would seem, with the Harps guilty of conceding soft frees that kept Truagh in the game. It was really only in the 28^th minute that the Harps were sprung to life by a fine point from Gerard Gilsenan, breaking up a period of scrappy play. This was followed two minutes later by a Maurice McKenna goal that saw the Harps lead by four points at the break: 1-6 to 0-5. The Harps came out in the second half determined to right any errors that were made in the first half, and this was obvious from the offset with sterling work throughout the team that saw Truagh with their backs to the wall for the full thirty minutes. Goals came in quick succession from Niall Hahessy and a brace from Ross Corbett, who then turned provider for Ray Lee to find the top corner of the net. A well-taken Frank Burke point further extended the lead in the 54^th minute, and this was followed by scores from Paul Lee and Niall Hahessy within the next two minutes. A dominant display from the Harps backs, in particular Shane Smyth at centre-back and a man-of-the-match performance from Darren McGill in the corner, held Truagh to one score in the second half. The effort by the backs was complimented by a feverish effort across the pitch with the likes of Dónal and Niall Hahessy relentlessly pressurising the Truagh backs. Aodhán Óg McAnespie hit the last point to make the final score 5-14 to 1-5. The next round of the championship is away to Carrickmacross this Thursday at 8pm.

Team and scorers: Éanna Finlay; Micheál Ó Mordha; Robbie Healy, Darren McGill; Alan Lee, Shane Smyth, Jack Lee; Alan Ryan (0-2, 1f), Maurice McKenna (1-4, 0-3f); Brendan McQuaid, Dónal Hahessy, Niall Hahessy (1-1); Ross Corbett (2-1), Gerard Gilsenan (0-3); Aodhán Óg McAnespie (0-1).

Subs: Myles Dwyer for Smyth, Ray Lee (1-0) for McQuaid, Frank Burke (0-1) for D Hahessy; Paul Lee (0-1) for Corbett.

Votes of sympathy: At last Thursday’s club meeting, votes of sympathy were passed to the families of Philip Drohan senior, Kilkenny; and Eugene Mulholland (brother of John), whose Funeral Mass will take place in Eskra on Friday at 11am.

Umbrellas: Monaghan Harps umbrellas have been selling well in recent weeks and there are just a few still available, but a new order will soon be made. Contact Séamus McManus at 086 8167928 for more information.

 

Cúl Camp: This year’s GAA Cúl Camp at Gavan Duffy Park will take place from July 15-19. See www.monaghangaa.ie for more details.