Fixtures: Saturday, October 12: SFL v Latton (Home) at 4.30pm; MHC Final Truagh Harps v Clontibret in Scotstown at 2pm

 

Monaghan Harps Lotto: Numbers 3, 15, 20 and 22. Jackpot of €2,100 not won. Residual prizes: €100 Maurice McKenna c/o Jim Dalton (Hurling Club); €40 Mary Macklin c/o Maria McKenna; €40 Niall Hennessy c/o Noel Hennessy; €40 Patricia McCann c/o Paddy Donnelly. Jackpot for Sunday, October 13 is €2,200 and Hugh and Maria McKenna are on duty. Lotto draw takes place in the clubhouse every Sunday night. All welcome.

 

Meetings: Our monthly club meetings for October take place in the clubhouse this Thursday.

 

Seniors: Our SFC run ended with a three-point defeat in a pulsating semi-final replay against Clontibret under lights in Emyvale last Friday night. Clontibret again made the better start, kicking the first three points, but Dónal Hahessy opened our account, before Shane Smyth and Neil McAdam (free) also hit the target. Nicholas Treanor also converted a brace of frees, but like in the drawn game, Clontibret held a narrow 0-7 to 0-5 half-time lead. Clontibret struck a quick 1-1 after the restart, but Dónal kept us in touch with a couple of frees and Shane Smyth added two fine scores from play. A free by Fearghal McMahon and a Stephen Driver point kept us right in the hunt and even though Clontibret got their second goal, we hit straight back when a Liam Hahessy shot dropped into the net. Clontibret landed the next two points, before Fearghal converted a free to close the gap back to a goal. Our lads launched one last attack, but there was no way through a wall of Clontibret defenders, so our championship run ended on a final score of 2-13 to 1-13.

Team and scorers: Cónall McKenna; Niall Hahessy, Aodhán Óg McAnespie, Kevin Loughran; Conor Galligan, Neil McAdam (0-1f), Gareth Treanor; Stephen Driver (0-1), Gary White (Capt.); Nicholas Scott, Dónal Hahessy (0-3, 2f), Shane Coyle; Dean Fanning, Shane Smyth (0-3), Nicholas Treanor (0-2f).

Subs: Fearghal McMahon (0-3f) for Fanning (24 mins), Emmett McArdle for N Treanor (inj., 32), Liam Hahessy (1-0) for Scott, Peter Coyle for D Hahessy (inj.) (both 53).

We now turn our focus back to the league, with Latton the visitors to Gavan Duffy Park this Saturday at 4.30pm. Please show your support for our last scheduled home game of the year!

 

Recreational tournament: Our second recreational football tournament, in memory of deceased club members, took place in glorious conditions at Gavan Duffy Park last Saturday. The Cup and Shield, in memory of Peter McNelis, Brendan McCann, John Mulholland and Tom Cuddy, were up for grabs, along with the Kieran Morgan Plate. We entered two teams, while Scotstown and Eskra also took part. The Harps ‘A’ team, captained by Damien Morgan, won the Cup Final, with Dessie McGarry, who put on an exhibition of point-scoring, winning the Man-of-the-Match award. The Harps ‘Exiles’ also lifted the Plate, with joint-captains Jimmy Croarkin and Finbarr Conlon and Man of the Match Liam Ó Baoighill. The Mark McCarron-captained Eskra team won the Shield. Sincere thanks go to everyone who helped out in any way. See website/next week’s notes for full report. Money raised goes to Monaghan Cancer Treatment Support Group and will be presented in the coming weeks.

 

Minors: Our minor footballers bounced back from their championship semi-final defeat against Magheracloone to beat the same opposition by 2-14 to 0-12 in the league semis at Gavan Duffy Park last Saturday. Evan Morahan opened the scoring, before Fearghal McMahon added a brace of well-taken points and Darragh Hannon converted a 45-metre free, before Francis Lynch hit the opening goal. Good points followed from Francie, John Mulligan, Fearghal and Evan and although Magheracloone got a few back, Ciarán hit our second goal to make the half-time score 2-10 to 0-7. Points by Fearghal (three) and Evan and some good defensive work meant that even being reduced to 14 men didn’t stop our lads advancing to the final against Carrickmacross on Saturday, October 26. Venue to be confirmed.

Team and scorers: Darragh Hannon (0-1f); Mustafa Gamal, Carl Foentjies, Conor Burns; Niall Treanor (Capt.), Kevin Loughran, Tiarnán Bramley; Turlough Clerkin, James McKenna; Ahmed Gamal, Evan Morahan (0-3, 2f), Francis Lynch (1-1); John Mulligan (0-1), Fearghal McMahon (0-8, 3f), Ciarán McQuaid (1-0).

Subs: Kevin Lyden for McQuaid (50 mins), Darragh Treanor for Gamal (55), Marc Brennan for Burns (59).

 

Draw: Tickets are selling well for a ‘Sportspersons Dream’ draw, which offers some amazing prizes, particularly for sports fans. Tickets are on sale now from club members and online – see link on our website. The early-bird draw was held last week and the winners were: €300 Alice Duffy and €200 PJ Murphy, Gerry Lynch and David Treanor. Thanks to everyone who has bought and sold tickets so far and please keep the effort going!

 

Blitzes: We are due to take part in an Under-13 football blitz this Thursday from 7pm and in an Under-15 football blitz on Thursday, October 24. Both take place in Cloghan.

 

Hurling:

U-13 Blitz: Our U-13s competed in a floodlight blitz in Cloghan on Monday last. All players were involved in a great display of hurling throughout the evening. This competition continues next Monday, October 14, and Jim will let everyone involved know the arrangements for this on Sunday morning at training.

Minor Championship: The minor Championship final in which Truagh Harps will compete against Clontibret will take place this Saturday, October 12. Throw-in is at 2pm in Scotstown. Please come along and show your support. Best of luck to all involved. Hopefully the lads can complete the year’s competitive outings in hurling with some silverware.

Seniors: The senior hurling season ended with a defeat against Craobh Rua, Camlough in the Ulster Club JHC at a wet and windy Crossmaglen last Sunday. Despite conceding a couple of early points, the Harps settled in points by Maurice McKenna (three) and Conor Curley and although Craobh Rua hit back with a couple of points, three pointed frees by Alan Ryan and another from Maurice had the Harps ahead by 0-8 to 0-5 at half-time. Craobh Rua struck for the opening goal a minute after the restart and although scores were hard earned in the next ten minutes, the Armagh side were gradually getting on top and the Harps needed James Greenan to deal well with a couple of Craobh Rua shots. Brendan McQuaid eventually got our lads’ first score of the second half in the 15^th minute, but the Camlough men replied with 1-2 in a row. Finishing the game with 14 men, the Harps could only manage one more point from an Alan Ryan free, although Brendan was unlucky with a shot at goal that went just wide. Craobh Rua added a goal and a point in the dying minutes to make the final score 3-9 to 0-10.

Team and scorers: James Greenan; Micheál Ó Mordha, Jack Lee, Patrick Hannon; Alan Lee, Shane Smyth, Patrick Meehan; Aidan Connell, Niall Hahessy; Conor Curley (0-1), Dónal Hahessy, Alan Ryan (Capt., 0-4f); Ross Corbett, Robbie Healy, Maurice McKenna (0-4f).

Subs: Raymond Lee for Healy (H-T), Brendan McQuaid (0-1) for Corbett (37 mins), Myles Dwyer for Hannon (43), Liam Hahessy for Connell (52), Conor Forde for N Hahessy (inj., 59).

 

Ladies: Our senior team play in the semi-final of the Division Two League this Sunday at 12 noon at Gavan Duffy Park. All players to be at the pitch for 11.05am. The Reserve league semi-final V Magheracloone has yet to be fixed. Training for seniors and minors continues on Tuesday at 7pm and Friday at 6.30pm.

Our minors played against Truagh last Friday night. The result was Harps 2-12 Truagh 2-6. The team was Maria Ferguson (Capt.), Niamh Tibby, Carla Doherty, Claire Duffy, Shauna Hetherington, Emma Clerkin (0-1), Eimear O’Rourke (0-5), Tara Reilly (1-1), Niamh Corrigan (0-1), Aisling Ferguson (1-4). Our remaining Minor Division One League fixture is against Scotstown.

The €30 club tickets for the upkeep & maintenance of the facilities at Gavan Duffy Park, have been distributed for sale amongst all club members. We request all Ladies club players past & present, management, committee members and parents to support this fundraiser.

Paul Swift has asked us to point out that he was responsible for the clock in the first two games in Croke Park on All-Ireland Finals Day, but because Monaghan were involved in the senior final, he was not on clock duty for that game. Two referees from Dublin looked after the clock for the senior game.