Bonagee and Donegal Town share the spoils with both remaining top of the table

Bonagee United 1 Donegal Town 1
The overarching theme to this game might be that Letterkenny Rovers still holds the power in deciding the First Division league winners for the 2023/24 season, but that won’t bother Donegal Town or Bonagee United for now, as they played out a physical 1-1 draw in Dry Arch Park. 

A comment was made before the match from an away supporter in the stand that a statement was made at the start of the season that in order for Donegal Town to get promoted, they needed to compete with Letterkenny Rovers and Bonagee United.  

And that’s exactly what they did today, and if it wasn’t for a lapse of concentration from the away defense to allow substitute Fintan Hasson to ghost through them and score at the back post to level the match, it could’ve been Donegal Town walking away with all three points. 

Both sides, having recorded their first draw of the season now stand on 31 points with 13 games played, while Rovers have 3 games in hand and sit three points behind. 

But neither team could complain overall with the final scoreline and were happy enough to remain shackled together for another few weeks at least despite tempers flaring in the corner of the field in the last passage of play before the whistle sounded. 

The opening half saw the away side easily storming the Bonagee defense, sending the ball through the back three for Declan Duignan to counter on.  

His telepathic relationship with Ian Campbell early in the first half had the better of the Bonagee defenders but couldn’t land that ultimate score. 

From the off, Donegal Town set down their marker with Tobi Owoeye sending Campbell free down the left, the latter let fire only for him to miskick and skew the ball to the right of the post. 

But the early mistimings didn’t bother the away team as they hit their target on the fifth minute when a long kick out from goalkeeper John McMullin was badly controlled in the air by Seán Hume, which gave Duignan time to control himself and attempt a shot.  

The resulting effort rolled across the Bonagee goalmouth for David Graham to ease into the net and leave it 1-0. 

And the away side didn’t stop there as they kept applying the pressure. They nearly had their second minutes later when Owoeye found Duignan running inside but was controversially ruled offside to the anger of the away bench. 

Campbell was superb throughout the opening half finding pockets inside to his strikers, but no matter how much they steamrolled the Bonagee defense, a second goal was never found with the home side breathing a sigh of relief as they marched towards the dressing at the break only a goal down. 

It didn’t take Bonagee manager Jason Gibbons long to know he had to shake the team up for the second 45 minutes and that’s exactly what he did by forcing three substitutions for the start of the half. 

And it paid dividends with Hasson, Aaron Wasson, Richie Gentrip causing mayhem with Donegal failing to escape out of the traps in the opening 20 minutes of the second period.  

Mark Toland and Wasson attempted to take advantage, but their chances fired over on both occasions. 

It was here that the Town needed a response, but Donegal’s four attacking players were having little impact during this period with the away side struggling to get the ball to feed to their scoring players, like they did so easily in the first half. 

The full-back partnership of Matthew McKenna and Oisin Gorrell, the former making only his second start this season, were bright when given the space to roam down the wing, but the opportunities were in short supply. 

And then came the ultimate equaliser on the 65th minute.  

A free kick outside the box from Dan O’Donnell hit the defensive wall to fire out left where Jordan Armstrong was on hand to nail in a floating cross which perfectly found Hasson at the back post steaming through to fire home. 

The Town rejuvenated in the final 20 minutes with Ben Sweeney making a significant impact off the bench causing bother and a high level of physicality on the attack. 

Campbell and Ronan McHugh were inches off from sealing the winner, but Bonagee had the knowhow to see the game out for a draw as tempers boiled over into a heated tussle which summed up the overall physicality of the game in total. 

Bonagee United: John Carr; Padraic Gilsenen (Finton Hasson 30), Seán Hume, Gareth Breslin, Eoghan Doherty; Michael Fenston, Dan O’Donnell, Cian Clancy (Mark Toland HT), Jordon Armstrong; Dean Harkin (Aaron Wasson HT), Aidan McLoughlan (Richie Gentrip HT). 

Donegal Town: John McMullin; Matthew McKenna, John Doherty, Ryan O’Brien, Oisin Gorrell; Tobi Owoeye (Ben Sweeney 55), Eoin Slevin (Glenn Harron 83), Ian Campbell, David Graham (Joe Campbell 55); Ronan McHugh, Declan Duignan. 

Referee: Stephen Laird