Bonagee United
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Bonagee United Football Club is a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club from
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
currently competing in the Ulster Senior League. The club are based in
Letterkenny Letterkenny ( , meaning "hillside of the O'Cannons"), nicknamed the Cathedral Town, is a large town in County Donegal, Ireland, on the River Swilly in the north-west of Ulster. Along with the nearby city of Derry, Letterkenny is a regional eco ...
. Bonagee United play their home games at Dry Arch Park. The club hosts a number of teams at different age ranges.


History

Bonagee United were formed on 2 November 1970 in the Continental Bar, now called Voodoo, on Letterkenny's Main Street. In 1971, the club purchased 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of land behind the Dry Arch for £1000. They were originally known as Arcade Athletic. In 1973, Athletic became Bonagee Celtic and then in 1975 Bonagee United. A development programme was drawn up in 1998 and gave the club an all-weather playing pitch and a spectator stand. A general purpose hall, two
AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...
pitches with floodlights, extra dressing rooms, a store and office were also added. Today the facilities amount to €973,000, for which they received a grant of €360,000. Money was raised by locals and the then Minister for Sport,
Jim McDaid James Joseph McDaid (born 3 October 1949) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister of State for Transport from 2002 to 2004 and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation from 1997 to 2004. He served as a Teachta Dála ...
. The club won their first Ulster Senior League Division One title in 2009. Bonagee were knocked-out of the 2022 FAI Cup by
Shelbourne F.C. Shelbourne Football Club is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish professional Association football, football club based in Drumcondra, Dublin, currently playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They ...
.


Lawsuit

On 3 October 1993, former Bonagee footballer
Dessie Larkin Dessie Larkin (c. 1970 – 18 March 2019) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a member of Donegal County Council representing the Letterkenny electoral area from 1999 to 2014. He served as the County Council's chair of the Planning & Ec ...
incurred severe burns to his scrotum as he rubbed it over the lime used to mark the football pitch. 13 years later Larkin sued the
Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...
. Bonagee were participating in the
FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairvie ...
at the time. Larkin recalled how there was no changing or showering facilities available and when he removed his football shorts, he noticed some form of "white stuff" on the interior of his shorts and his skin was also inflamed and falling off. The judge was told that there were no instructions from the FAI as to the amount of lime and water that should have been in the mix. The judge awarded Larkin €9000 and stated that the onus was on the FAI to ensure that players be warned to take precautions to prevent the incident from happening.Ex-mayor gets €9,000 over burns to scrotum
''Irish Independent'', 3 February 2006.


References

{{Letterkenny 1970 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs established in 1970 Association football clubs in County Donegal Organisations based in Letterkenny Sport in Letterkenny Ulster Senior League (association football) teams