BALLYBOFEY United are in a good position in the Division One table but manager PH Bonar is looking over his shoulder rather than towards the top end of the table at the moment.
Ballybofey have had just the two games since the turn of the year, a 6-0 win over Lifford and more recently a 4-2 win against Gweedore United, both away from home.
That leaves them in fifth place with 19 points, which has exceeded expectations thus far, as avoiding relegation was their one target before the season began and still remains the priority.
“We are happy enough,” Bonar told the Donegal News.
“We were targeting 20 points to stay in the division but now we do think that mightn’t be enough to stay in it. It’s so tight between Cappry in third bottom up to Milford in third, a couple of defeats and you could be right down there and a couple of wins and you could be up at the play-offs.
“We’re doing okay, any game we’ve lost has been by a single goal which is a positive after coming up.
“We’d be happy with staying in the division but we probably will need to target 25 points to guarantee safety and avoid the play-off spot.
“Some of the lads would like to get carried away and look up the table rather than down but I keep telling them that we have to sort out what’s behind us before we look at what’s above us.
“It is a learning year for the lads to find their feet and then maybe push on next year but staying in this division would be a big achievement and we’re probably two wins away from that so it’s still our target.”
The Dreenan men have a good balance age wise in the squad, with some Donegal League veterans along with a sprinkling of youth pushing through.
Those younger players are experiencing Division One for the first time but it’s clear that they have adapted well to it, while Bonar is hoping he can keep the experienced heads on for another year.
“A lot of them young lads are away to college so some Friday evenings we get them and some we don’t. Pre-season wasn’t great so coming from that to where we are has been good.
“The mix has nearly been better this year, the older lads are aware their time is running out and they’re wanting to pass on as much knowledge as possible. Then the younger lads are playing well, Daithi McMahon is scoring away, Barrie McGhee is playing well in the ten, Bobby (Hennigan) is battering away in the backline and Oran Gallen has really stepped up this year after playing mostly Saturday last year.
“The older lads bring what they always bring, ‘Wizzy’ (Shaun McGowan) at the back and Damien Glackin up front, the McCloskeys (Andrew and Niall) in the middle, the experience they have is invaluable.
“Damien and Wizzy, maybe if we do well they’ll give it another year, when you finish playing that’s it but if you’re able to contribute something then it would still be massive so we haven’t given up on them!”
Ballybofey will get a good run of games now as they are out five weeks in a row, with three of those games against teams above them.
It’ll be a tough run for the club for the boss is happy to get back into more of a routine and try to build momentum coming into the final third of the season.
“It has been a bit stop-start, we had a week off then we were supposed to play Cranford but they were playing in the Ulster Cup.
“We’ve had two games in four weeks which isn’t ideal but we have five in a row now and there are no easy games left.
“We need games, especially for those lads at college who aren’t training much, they need the games to stay match fit. We don’t like these free weekends but it is five tough games.
“We start with Castlefin which we know will be a battle, they’ll be coming here on a bit of a high after beating Donegal Town.
“It was a tight game down there in the first half of the season and it was bad conditions for football and they came out on the right side of it. They’ll be coming with their tails up and it’s a derby but we’re here to play these better teams which is what we wanted last year.
“Then we go down to Milford who are going very well, we beat them 2-1 but Odhran Bonar had a great game in nets that day which got us the win.
“We have three home games in the next five so it’s very important we make them count, two wins and we’d be delighted, we want to be in this division and I wouldn’t say we’re thriving but we’re surviving which is all we want.”
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