'We're looking to win . . . we're not going to just give them the league' - McNulty

Lifford Celtic manager Daniel McNulty knows that Ballybofey United hold all the cards in their attempt to win the league title this Sunday when both sides face off in Dreenan, but that doesn’t mean his side are going to simply roll over and let the opposition walk to the title. 

Ballybofey United are just one point away from clinching the Donegal Physiotherapy Division 2 championship this weekend, having produced a near-perfect season only dropping two points throughout the year. 

Lifford Celtic on the other hand, stands in second position in the league on 37 points, six points behind Ballybofey with an extra game played. 

Therefore, you would assume with that gap that with two games to play and only one point needed, the advantage is definitely in the hands of the club situated in the Twin Town area, but Lifford Celtic manager believes his side will not give up without a fight.  

“There’s no pressure on us this weekend, all the pressure is on Ballybofey,” said McNulty. “We’re looking for a result to get promoted and they’re looking for a result to win the league, so, it’s going to be an exciting game no doubt, but saying that we’re aiming for a win this weekend. We’re not going to lie over and let them take three points easily.” 

McNulty, however, praises Ballybofey’s undefeated season but believes his side are more than capable of causing an upset, having narrowly lost to them 2-1 at home earlier this year. 

“In fairness to Ballybofey they’re a brilliant team. They’re undefeated this season and they deserve to be in the position they’re in,” McNulty said. 

“We played them at the start of the year and lost, but I think the game against us was a lot tighter affair than what was on the scoreboard. We gave away two penalties that day, one was a stonewall penalty and the other was a bit up in the air. When they scored their second, that turned the game in their favour.” 

In all, it’s a testament to how far Lifford Celtic has come, with the side only returning to league football two seasons ago after the club folded. 

And with Drumoghill third in the table, Lifford only needs one point for automatic promotion to Division 1. 

“At the start of the season, our aim was to finish halfway up the league. Last year we came from a struggling season which was about rebuilding and trying to improve for next year,” the Lifford manager stated. 

“But this year ended up going a lot better than any of us thought. We’re now pushing for promotion, which is not bad for a club that has only come back into the league two seasons ago. 

“Last year we came back into the league, but we couldn’t sign players from other clubs, so we had a lot of players that weren’t playing with clubs, which was hard. 

“We struggled out the year and I think the most we had at a game last season was 13 players, the rest was the bare 11. I think in our final game last year we played a match with only 10 players. So, we’ve come a long way. 

“I think for this weekend, the lads know we just have to go up and play our own game. We’re not going to roll over because we need three points to get out of this league automatically. That’s our aim.” 

Yet despite a league title on the line, Ballybofey manager PH Bonar states that his side has already reached their goal for the year. 

“I think the way we look at it is we’ve achieved our target. We were just aiming for promotion this year, but now we have the chance to add a league title on top of that, so hopefully it works out, but we won’t be putting too much pressure on ourselves,” said Bonar. 

“We only need one point from three games left. So, if it doesn’t work this weekend, hopefully it will work in the other matches, but we’re not building it up too much. 

“Some might say we would take a draw this weekend, but we want to go out and win every game. We’re not going out to just go through the motions.” 

Ballybofey United have been in this league for two years now, and with many of their star players moving on last year, Bonar was forced to build the side from his underage setup, which has worked out for the manager. 

“I think this year we lost a lot of our experienced players. I was with the underage teams for years, so I was given the job this season to try and bring all these young lads through,” said Bonar. 

“We knew it would take time to replace the older players who are now gone, but the young players have just completely bought in to everything we’ve asked of them. There are about five teenagers playing for us every week, which is brilliant to see because there’s a big gap between the ages of the older and the younger players. 

“I thought this would take a few years to get all these players to develop as adult footballers, but it’s worked out for them. I think there was a lot of hurt from not getting promoted last season on the final day, and all the players were just determined to do well this time around.” 

With all the cards stacked in Ballybofey United’s hands, Sunday’s match is now building to an exciting climax between the two best teams in the league.