HARPS BRING FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SAGA TO SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION

By MARY GRIMES

When the annals of ladies football in Monaghan are next explored in depth, the saga of the 2014 Ulster IFC will doubtless command more than a few paragraphs.

Last Friday night the whole sorry episode concerning the win that wasn’t the win but that surely was a win in the provincial decider played a couple of weeks ago was thankfully put to bed.

The Harps once again crossed swords with Donegal champions Four Masters for the right to be acclaimed intermediate champions.

The match was a replay of the teams’ initial meeting when a genuine mistake by officialdom in the final led to a ruling by the Ulster council in the Harps’ favour only for Four Masters to lodge an appeal to Central Council, one that was ultimately turned down.

In their wisdom, the powers-that-be decided that the final ought to be replayed and at Garvaghy last Friday night, the combatants duly took to the field to settle the affair once and for all.

The Harps obviously played with a point to prove but they had to play second fiddle for extended periods of the first half as they faced into the teeth of a strong wind.

However they say class always shows in the end and thankfully for all associated with the Oriel county crew, the Harps won out by 3-5 to 1-5.

Four Masters ace Rachael Crawford got her Four Masters team off to an excellent start by netting after just four minutes.

The north-westerners continued on the front foot and Kate Keaney followed up with three points while Kelly Lacey added another for good measure.

The Harps, through Emma Clerkin and Donna Marie Morgan, worked hard to get a foothold in the game with a point apiece which lifted spirits among …