The Harps suffered an early blow when Aine Mahony had to limp off with a bad knee injury but they were dominating possession in the first half and started to open up a lead despite hitting several wides. At half time they led by 0-6 to 0-2.

The rain steadily got worse throughout the match but the Dicksboro grounds held up well. The home team came storming out in the second half and put the Harps under severe pressure but the 6 backs battled for everything and withheld all the attacks. The girls managed to break up field and pick off some great points to keep their lead intact. When the final whistle sounded it was a 5 points win for the Harps, 10 to 5.

Captain Joan Dollard lifted the Leinster cup as the large crowd of soaked supporters joined in the celebrations on the pitch.

Harps:
Grace Murphy;
Joan Dollard, Denise Quigley, Patricia Dunphy;
Michelle Fitzpatrick, Catriona Phelan, Claire Walsh;
Louise Mahony, Elaine Mahony;
Laura Mahony, Angela Hanlon, Aine Mahony;
Aisling Phelan, Theresa Bennett, Rosemarie Phelan;

Subs: Bronagh Dunne for Aine Mahony (inj), Helen Keane for Laura Mahony

Scores: Louise Mahony 0-7, Theresa Bennett 0-2, Aisling Phelan 0-1

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The under 14 girls are being coached by Elaine Mahony and Johnny Campion.
They were beaten by just one point by Camross to be deprived the oppertunity of representing Laois in the Féile.
In the championship so far, they have won 2 games, beating both St. Brigid’s and Portlaoise well.
The also suffered very narrow defeats at the hands of Camross and O’Moore’s.
They are due to play Castletown next week and St.Joseph’s and Clonad in the 2 weeks after that.

The Minor team under the stewardship of Ross Young have beaten Clonad and St. Brigid’s well in the championship so far. but were beaten by Camross and O’Moore’s. They are due to play O’Moore’s in the semi final, but the date has yet to be set.

The under 12 team under Joan Dollard will commence training on Saturday morning at 11am.

The under 10 panel under Pádraic Henderson played against Portlaoise recently, as did the under 8 panel under Kay O’Connor. The Harps won all matches.

Scorers for the Harps were:
Aine Mahony(0-4), Joanne Prior(0-1), Louise Mahony(0-1) and Edel Costigan(0-1).

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The Harps put on an exhibition of both fitness in skill on Saturday when they beat Donard Glen in the Leinster League on a score line of The Harps 6-17 to Donard Glen 1-1.

The Harps were;- Helen Keane, Claire Walsh, Deirdre Holland, Bronagh Dunne, Catriona Phelan,
Elaine Mahony(0-2), Louise Mahony(0-3), Rosemarie Phelan, Maria Dunne(1-0), Denise Quigley(0-1), Edel Costigan(1-3), Áine Mahony(3-7), Hazel Costigan(1-0), Mairéid Killeen, Lorna Campion
and Yvonne Mullins.

The Harps will now go on to play Camross in The South Leinster League Final. Date to comfirmed

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The girls beat Clara on Saturday March 13th in the Leinster League.
The final score was The Harps 2-16 to Clara 3-6.

The Harps were;-

Helen Keane, Joan Dollard, Deirdre Holland, Niamh Delaney, Catriona Phelan, Claire Walsh, Louise Mahony(0-7), Rosemarie Phelan, Bronagh Dunne, Joanne Prior(1-2), Edel Costigan, Denise Quigley(1-6), Elaine Cuddy, Caoimhe Kenny, Hazel Costigan and Yvonne Mullins.

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The Harps had a great start to the 2010 season when they defeated Ferns on a scoreline of 4-12 to 2-4 in the Leinster League. The girls played a great game, considering we had only 15 girls on the day.

The panel was Helen Keane, Joan Dollard, Deirdre Holland, Patricia Dunphy, Catriona Phelan, Claire Walsh, Louise Mahony (1-4), Joanne Prior (0-1), Rosemarie Phelan, Elaine Mahony (0-2), Bronagh Dunne, Maria Dunne, Áine Mahony (3-5), Shauna Monaghan and Dervla Dunne

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Fixtures:

27/2/10 Ferns 2-4 Harps 4-12

6/3/10 Emeralds v Harps, Urlingford Co. Kilkenny.

13/3/10 Harps 2-16 Clara 3-6

20/3/10 Donard Glen V Harps, Donard Glen, Co. Wicklow.

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3rd/4th April- Winners section A V winners section B.
17th April North Leinster Champions V South Leinster Champions.

Results:

Harps 1-5 Four Roads (Roscommon) 2-1
Harps 1-0 Kerry 1-4
Harps 7-0 St. Brigids 4-0

Full Camogie Final Results:

Division 1: Douglas (Cork) 1-7 St Vincent’s (Dublin) 2-2
Division 2: St Brenda’s (Armagh) 2-4  O’Moore’s 2-2
Division 3: Kerry 0-4 Kiltale 0-3
Division 4: Na Brideoga (Mayo) 5-3 Seir Kieran 0-1

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Reports on the games from Johnny Campion:

The Harps Camogie Club played hosts to 4 Roads of Roscommon for the second year in a row for the Feile Na nGeal weekend, and as is tradition hosts played guests in their first game of the competition.
In the 1st half Shauna Monahan(capt) scored 3 points from 45′s and Orla Brennan scored a lovely individual point from play answered by a single point from 4 Roads.
After the break however, 4 Roads scored a goal to level the match. Shauna Monahan  scored a point from play to edge the harps in front again. Then 4 Roads scored another goal to put them in front for the 1st time in the game. Then Shauna snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the Harps with a well executed goal. Final score Harps 1-5 to 4 Roads 2-1.

On Saturday morning The Harps 2nd game was against the might of the Kerry County team who were Division 4 Feile na nGeal champions in 2008 and the pick of county Kerry. From the throw in Kerry showed a physicality and strength that would be hard to match by any under 14 team, but The Harps girls rose to the challenge and showed Kerry that they would not have an easy victory over them. Some brilliant displays from Niamh Delaney, Stephanie Bergin and Shannon Saunders just to mention a few showed a determination never seen before from this Harps team. Shauna Monahan scored a lovely goal in the second half. However all the Harps valiant efforts would not overcome the Kerry giants and the Harps were beaten by 4 points.

The Harps next game was against their county rivals St. Brigids. It would prove to be another mighty clash between these 2 teams. Shauna Monahan scored 2 goals in the first half followed by a goal each for Stephanie Bergin and Edel Costigan. St. Brigids scored 3 goals in the 1st half to leave the score at the break at the Harps 4-0 to St. Brigids 3-0. Soon after the break St. Brigids scored a goal to level the match, but the Harps girls raised their game and responded with another goal from Edel Costigan and 2 more from Shauna Monahan. Final score The Harps 7-0 to St. Brigids 4-0.

As Kerry had beaten all 3 other teams in the group, they progressed and won both the semi final and the final.

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The u-14 Feile na nGael is on again this coming weekend, June 19th to 21st in Laois/Offaly. The Camogie team are competing in Division 3. The girls are grouped with Roscommon, Kerry and St. Brigids Rathdowney. All these games will be played in Durrow.

Fixtures:
Fri 19th @ 2pm: Harps v Roscommon
Sat 20th @ 10am: Harps v Kerry
Sat 20th @ 12.15pm: Harps v St Brigids.

The semi finals are on Saturday evening at 6pm and the final is Sunday morning at 11am.

The Feile parade takes place on Friday evening in Birr. The girls won an award last year in the parade for best dressed club.

Bus going up for supporters, contact committee members.

The game is followed by the Senior semi final between Ballyboden St. Enda’s of Dublin and O’Donovan Rossa of Antrim.

The second junior semi final is between Kilmayley of Clare and Four Roads of Roscommon is played in Tipperary.