Messages

u 21s  have the potential to retain the cup and i wish them all the best.Great to see Patsy Nugent getting hall of fame award.Atrue gentleman who gave a hell of a lot of his time to get the harps were they are today.It was men like patsy who kept the harps going in the bad days,and who shared in the good times.

Agree one hundred percent with that - congratulations to Patsy.

Now time to take my leave of you - as young Oates once said (I think  ), I'm going out and I may be gone some time!! 

Maybe not the greatest sporting one, but a historical one




And laoislad is going like an express - his 'moments' wouild fill the Christmas TV schedule at this rate! 

Check out the reactions of Pele, Tostao and the crowd behind the nets!   

Not taking away from Pele, but Tony Cascarino was regularly knocking them in from a few yards out for Millwall in the 80s . . .

Good point Turk - not taking away from Pele or Caz, but I was knocking in two goals every three nights, at Sherry's Field Council Grounds over the winter of 2004/2005!

Any word of that greatest moment before laoislad uses up all the rest!?!?!  

Check out the reactions of Pele, Tostao and the crowd behind the nets!   

Kingspan Breffni Park is on a par with Clones at the moment, the town itself is nicer and more accessible but it gets damn all games. Not saying it should get Ulster finals as these need to be more central but the odd Ulster semi, if the geography of the pairing suits, wouldn't go astray.

The rest of your point though more or less hit the nail on the head. When Casement was done up a number of years ago, it was guaranteed one semi-final in Ulster each year, with Clones getting the other. Too many good stadiums and not enough big games. The likes of Cavan therefore gets squeezed out.

By the way, Breffni is a lovely ground since it was done up!

Has there ever been a Ulster final in Casement?

What was the largest attendance at a match in casement?
How many of you would be happy to have the final held in Belfast?

It was played there in the 1950s/1960s - the Ulster Final attendance record that lasted for many years was set in Casement - 41,000 for the 1961 Ulster Final between Armagh and Down.

The whole issue though raises many questions, not least of which is the Maze project. Prior to going to Croke Park, I always felt that Clones needed to be extended to about 50k - and there is the room to do that. As has also been stated though, Dublin is getting as handy as Clones with the improvement in the roads, so the need for a 50K stadium is diminishing.

By the way, outside of Croker, I would have to say Clones currently is as modern a GAA stadium as there is!

I would have dumbed down that report for orchardcounty rufus. 

Nice one my friend - there's a few 'interesting' contributors there alright! 

[Harps v Ballymacnab]

Harps v Ballymacnab

Champions Harps made it safely through to the next round of the Under 21 Championship with a hard fought victory over Ballymacnab in difficult conditions at Abbey Park this morning. Thankfully the torrential rain and thunder and lightning that had battered the city an hour and a half before throw in had abated, although a gale force wind blew into the dressing room goals.

Harps played into the gale in the first half and started promisingly, with Joe Quigley pointing a free early on. Ballymacnab though quickly found their feet and with the help of the breeze began to dominate. They could not make this dominance count and had three wides from scoreable frees before they opened their account on ten minutes with a point. Harps were still under the cosh and were thankful for some great defensive play from Ciaran Clifford and Martin McCoy. Harps regained the lead against the run of play when Declan Coulter fielded a kick out and set up Joe Quigley for a point from play. Harps began having more of the play at this stage thanks to excellent play through the middle from the midfield pairing of Simon Lennon and Nippy along with centre half forward Declan Coulter. Nippy was fielding impressively in the middle although the team as a whole was guilty of over elaborating in an attempt to retain possession. Ballymacnab still looked threatening and managed to edge ahead just before half time with consecutive points from frees. The one point lead was of little comfort for the 'nab, as they turned to face the gale – the really telling statistic was their eight first half wides. 

Half time, Harps 0-02, Ballymacnab 0-03.

Harps hit the front almost immediately on the restart. A long ball out of defence found full forward Kevin Kelly in space. His first shot was blocked but he managed to gather the rebound and shoot to the net. Charlie Vernon had a point after a great run and this was followed up with points from Darren Ward and a Kevin Kelly fifty. It was all Harps at this stage, although to be fair Ballymacnab defended heroically. Martin McCoy pointed a monstrous effort from beyond the fifty-yard line to give the Harps a six point lead. Ballymacnab refused to buckle and began to get the ball forward more often, and had the next two points (one a free). They kept pressing and Harps were indebted to a brilliant John Daly save. Harps made the most of this let off and Declan Coulter put Charlie Vernon through the middle for a great goal. This score seemed to rattle the 'nab and three points followed from Joe Quigley, Kevin Kelly (a free) and Simon Lennon. Ballymacnab keeper Sean Hughes, playing against his old team mates, made a great save from Charlie Vernon. Ballymacnab to their credit kept going to the end, and finished the scoring late on with a goal and a point. Unfortunately for them, it was too little too late.

Final score, Harps 2-09, Ballymacnab 1-06.

After a long time waiting, Harps will have been glad to get their campaign started. Harps made the game difficult for themselves throughout, although they were deserving of their victory. Best for the Harps were Declan Coulter, Nippy Swift, Simon Lennon, Ciaran Clifford and Martin McCoy. The Harps fielded as follows, John Daly, Karl Grimes, Ciaran Clifford, Fergus McAleavey, Martin McCoy 0-1, Charlie Vernon 1-1, Smackers McAnaney, Simon Lennon 0-1, Nippy Swift, Joe Quigley 0-3 (0-1 free), Declan Coulter, Cormac Toner, Darren Ward 0-1, Kevin Kelly 1-2 (0-1 '50', 0-1 free) and Liam Devlin. Substitutes used were Conal O'Hara and Mark McConville. 

Rufus,
Any other award winners last night?

Sorry exile - only know those two - I think Ballymacnab won the Club of the Year award.

Congratulations to Rangers -another great achievement, despite the fact that the team continues to change from the start of this run (1996). Well done to all concerned! 

Congratulations to two fellow Harps men who were in receipt of awards at the County Dinner last night in the Carrickdale Hotel.

Our esteemed President, Sean Hart Senior, received a Lifetime Achievement award in honour of many years of service to both Club and County and Declan Coulter was named County Senior Hurler of the year. Declan plays his hurling with Armagh Cuchulainns and represented not only Cuchulianns and Armagh, but also Ulster in the Railway Cup and Ireland (against Scotland) in the hurling/shinty. Congratulations to both on these well deserved accolades.

Thats Why Tir na nOg have never won anything in their lives, to many boys telling you how to play when they couldn't do it on the field. . And the last team in Armagh who should have beaten Cross was indeed the Ogs in keady, i was at the game and Bendover is correct

Ditto, the Ogs were very unlucky that day, thank God!!! 

Disagree Sureyouwill - luck did not come into it and neither in my opinion did the Oisin McConville incident. The real reason the Ogs didn't win is that they didn't believe in themselves - end of! They beat themselves.

[Presentation Night - Saturday 9th December in the ClubRace Day - Fairyhouse - Saturday 10th March]

By the way, thanks to Randal for phoning me on the mobile when I was making my report to the meeting! 

Classic!

I know Orior - is nothing sacred? 

Don't forget two important dates coming up;

Presentation Night - Saturday 9th December in the Club

Race Day - Fairyhouse - Saturday 10th March

Book your place at the bar early for the presentation night as Pup Clarke says he will have some great stories from the eighties to regale us with! 

Conor Moore is taking money now for the Day at the Races - anyone who has paid 25 pounds by the end of this month will be entered into a free draw - a similar draw will take place at the end of December for those with 50 pounds paid and so on up to February and 100 pounds submitted.

AGM held in the Club tonight. Crowd was about par for the course over recent years; 45-50. Good though to see a few new younger faces at what would be (I would guess) their first AGM.

James Clifford as Chair kept a tight rein on the schedule and it was over by 10.20pm. 

Most officers returned unopposed and good to see several new faces on the Committee.

For the record;

Chairman - James Clifford,
Vice Chairman - John Rath
Acting Secretary - Colm O'Hare
Assistant Secretary - Colm O'Hare
Treasurer - Kieran Grimley
Assistant Treasurer - Conor Moore
Youth Officer - Paul McKenna
Registrar - Art McGinn

Committee; Pearse Dynes, Paul Rath, Eugen Fagan, Phil McGinn, Simon Clarke, Malachy Geraghty, Mick McKenna, Paula Powell, Leo Duffy, Gerry Cauldwell, Martin McKenna, Martin Gill and Brenda Gill.

By the way, thanks to Randal for phoning me on the mobile when I was making my report to the meeting! 

By the way - I don't get out too often - just heard, congratulations to Say Nothin and the wife after their recent addition. Welcome to my world kid!  Hope everyone is keeping well! 

It was commented on here at the time, certainly by Hardy if my memory serves me well, that the ref effectively killed the Francie v Donaghey contest with his use of the yellow early on and the immortal line "once more and you're off!" It was after this that Donaghey did the damage.

If applying the rules and leveling the playing field "Killed the contest" then perhaps Armagh had no business showing up. To paraphrase Kieran McGeeney "if it's pulling and dragging they want then we'll pull and drag !" 

Mike, don't take the quote out of context - I would have thought that you'd more in you than that.

I've no problem believing that the ref can justify his actions that day via the rule book. My issue is with double standards, i.e. one for Francie and another for the rest. As an example of this, I watched the current All Star full back pull, drag, haul and wrestle Ronan Clarke over two games - and the ball was fifty yards away!!

By all means book players for pulling - but let's do it to more than just those that the press/fans/opposition give a bad reputation to!