Spina bifida cut Ciarán Bradley’s football career short at u-16 level but wheelchair hurling gave him an avenue back into sport and he captains the Ireland floorball team. He spoke with Michael McMullan…

CLANN na Banna’s Tommy Bradley Memorial Cup had a record of 24 u-10 football teams last September for its 30th year. A permanent fixture.

A native of Rochfortbridge in Westmeath, Tommy, Ciarán Bradley’s grandfather, moved to Banbridge and his legacy lives on.

Ciarán’s father Garvan played for Clann na Banna past his 60th birthday if the reserves were short a man, and he still plays with the dads and lads’ team almost a decade later.

There was a Rafferty Club All-Star in 1983 at wing-back in the days when the Down scene was tough and men were men.

He is still heavily involved in the club. No matter who was managing the senior team, Garvan was always involved in some capacity. Selector or taking the reserves or whatever needed to be done.

Ciarán and his brother Sean were never going to have anything else only a grá for Gaelic games.

“He played with the Down Masters and got to the two All-Ireland finals,” Ciarán said of his father.

Ciarán’s own career was cut short with spina bifida. Surgery on his right leg when in primary school temporarily halted him but, being naturally left footed, it didn’t stop him then. Overcompensating eventually took its toll on his left side.

“There’s a bone below your fibula and tibia called your talus bone,” Ciarán explains.

“My fibula and tibia had actually crushed down through it. I had a hairline fracture in my fibula and tibia and that talus bone was crushed.”

Before knowing exactly what it was, he felt it was another complication he’d overcome. He’d been used to meeting challenges head on.

But it wasn’t going to go away. Ciarán had two options. Amputation or have his ankle fused at 90 degrees. The latter meant nine months in a cage. There would still be the chance of further complications.

“They’re not really two great options,” he recalls of a time when his 18th birthday was looming.

“I think I just weighed it up. What use is it going to be to me after that, or what’s the knock-on effect going to be.”

He’d been in and out of hospitals for various procedures and had enough, choosing amputation as means of drawing a line in the sand.

“I’m still happy with what I went with. I was just thinking, right, well, to get this done, it should be a once and done thing.

“Once you’re rehabbed and up and about, you’ll be able to get about a lot better, so that’s why I just ended up going with that.”

After a few minor issues that were cleared up, the operation was a success. Ciarán had an artificial limb and was back for Upper Sixth at the Abbey CBS in Newry.

He took to the gym for a fitness outlet. He helped the late Jody Gormley with statistics for the MacRory Cup team to also keep in the sporting loop.

Ciarán got involved in coaching the Clann na Banna u-16 and minor teams. He is still in charge of the reserve team.

He was brought up with a love of sport. Like his grandfather’s imprint on Clann na Banna, it never went away. That’s the story of a GAA family.

****

After his operation, Ciarán was without a team sport until he spotted a Facebook signpost for wheelchair hurling.

It wasn’t long until he was on his way to Cookstown’s Mid Ulster Sports Arena where Ulster GAA coaches Shane McCann and Paul Callaghan laid the path for a total life change.

Before that, he was working away in the gym and coaching the clubs’ teams back home. Hurling offered a new sense of belonging.

“People with disabilities, acquired or born with, maybe feel a bit out of place or can’t fit in,” he points out.

“The wheelchair hurling obviously gives you that sense of being accepted and included.”

“You are there with people in similar situations and walks of life, other people with disabilities.

“You are accepted and feel togetherness within the group,” Ciarán continues.

“You are seen, understood and you feel your importance. We are all brought together through our love of the GAA and our disabilities.”

Ciarán has one regret. He just wished he had discovered hurling sooner. It would’ve given him more years to learn the skills of navigating around the area in a sports chair and mastering all the sporting traits on top of that.

Moving forward, he hopes counties, clubs and the overall GAA hierarchy can build a network where someone with a disability doesn’t find wheelchair sport by chance.

He also plays basketball with the Craigavon Lakers with the hope he can attract the eyes of the national selectors. There is a bit of rugby with Ulster Barbarians. It all combines and keeps him both busy and active.

“I would always say that I’m a wheelchair hurler first of all, it’s just the hurling is probably just not as mainstream or as big as the basketball,” he adds.

“We’re more footballers up here (in Ulster) than actual hurlers. All the ones playing the wheelchair hurling would all be coming from like a football background.”

It’s different in Munster with more hurlers and there would be junior teams. That’s where Ulster needs to get to.

“It’s just getting used to the skill set, obviously being in the chair and changing sticks,” he said of the learning. “You have to find what length is good and what weight is good.”

Ciarán joined the wheelchair hurling at the tail of the 2021 season. Ulster beat Munster in the league but Munster still won the title and turned the tables on Ulster in the All-Ireland final.

“The second year (2023), obviously we got very, very serious about it all,” Bradley said.

“I trimmed down and was training really hard. We got to another All-Ireland final and it went to extra-time.”

Ulster had won the league but it was Munster who were still the top of the pops, coming through after extra-time.

Ulster were missing goalkeeper Kevin Cassidy who was competing for Ireland at the Disability Ryder Cup and another player was away on rugby duty.

Ciarán has been Ulster’s captain for the last two seasons and although they’ve had a stronger panel, they’ve not been able to make the breakthrough.

“In the league this year, they (Munster) beat us twice and we beat them twice,” he said. “We just slipped up against Connacht in one of the rounds where it just wouldn’t fall for us on the day.”

When it came to the All-Ireland, they once again came up short with Munster annexing a fifth successive title.

“We’ve definitely come along much better compared to the start,” Bradley said, highlighting Munster holding the ace of having more ‘actual’ hurlers to pick from. “We’re on the cusp but we just can’t get over the line.”

****

Floorball is another avenue and it brings an international dimension. It’s a game resembling Unihoc many will remember from those giddy days at a youth club or summer camp.

The ball is different from hurling; it’s a case of flicking it rather than a full swing. Where hurling is gung-ho, floorball is more methodical.

“Holland, they played with their more experienced guy at the back, in front of the goalkeeper,” Bradley explains.

“He was basically like your Roy Keane or Steven Gerrard, not going forward too much.

“He would have held up the ball well and passed it out into space. It’s definitely more tactical.”

The GAA fund an Ireland team, a selection of the best wheelchair hurlers, to travel every second year.

Ciarán was part of the team who traveled to Prague in 2023 and was selected as captain for September’s trip to Holland.

Off the back of a delayed All-Ireland hurling competition, there was no time to lick the wounds of defeat.

Representing Ireland gives players a chance to put rivalries to one side and pull in the same direction.

The other Ulster players in the 2025 trip were Paul Hannan (Armagh), Sam McColgan (Donegal) and Jason Muldoon (Derry).

Shane McCann and Paul Callaghan were part of the coaching team with Tanya Roberts Browne of Donegal there in her capacity as national chairperson of GAA for All.

“After traveling, we’re really good mates but once it comes to game time there’s, no love lost,” Ciarán said with a smile when talking about the Ireland group.

They played Holland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany and USA. After the initial games, the competition was split in two.

“We finished in the bottom half because we didn’t get any wins,” Bradley said. “We should have probably beaten USA that first day.”

Preparation was cut short with the extended hurling season and it takes time to adapt to floorball.

“It’s just learning for everybody and it was only the third time we went,” Bradley added.

“We are by no means experts on it but would like to like to get a bit better at it.

“Those teams that were there, they know we don’t go all the time and they’ve asked us to come back.

“There’s a Swiss Open, there’s the Prague Open, there’s the Dutch Open, all the countries have their own competitions.”

It’s a small matter of funding to get a squad of 12 players, the coaches and all the equipment transported across. A debate and a hope for another day.

Before that, Bradley will be back to the busy schedule of basketball, hurling and a bit of rugby.

He’s making up for lost time and there is a desire on the hurling front to knock Munster off their perch and taste All-Ireland glory.

More generally, he hopes hurling will grow in Ulster and urges more youth to come on board. That’s where sustainability comes from and competition for places.

Further down the tracks, an Ulster interval league would transform it all. To get there, spreading the word is important.

Bradley came on wheelchair hurling by chance. He calls on clubs and county boards to send out feelers for any players with injuries preventing them playing, for club members with disabilities, or acquired disabilities.

The games are now io YouTube; there is commentary and the hurling finals have been broadcast on Clubber. It has come a long way.

As a teenager, Ciarán Bradley had to make a decision between a fused ankle or an amputation. An unimaginably tough call. He chose the latter and hurling is the vehicle that has taken him all over Ireland to Europe.

His father Garvan is still tipping away; his brother is playing over in England and the Tommy Bradley Cup heads towards its 31st season.

Sport and GAA are there for everyone if you want to reach out and find it. The avenue is there. Just ask Ciarán Bradley.

For further information on the GAA Wheelchair Hurling Programme, contact: tanya.robertsbrown.g4a@gaa.ie, shane.mccann.ulster@gaa.ie, or paul.callaghan.ulster@gaa.ie