Provincial title tops it all says Bradley

By Michael McMullan

EOIN Bradley has kicked many scores for club and county down the years but nothing betters last Sunday’s Ulster Intermediate Championship triumph in Clones.

‘Skinner’ came off the bench to hit 1-1 with his first two touches, and a 1-3 haul in total, to help Glenullin fend off Cavan champions Cuchulainn’s.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Bradley beamed in the St Tiernach’s Park tunnel.

Just over three weeks from his 42nd birthday, he has played 27 seasons since breaking into the ‘Glen senior team as a teenager.

Bradley also pointed to 2007 as a special year, their last senior title alongside his brother Paddy in a team managed by their father Liam.

“The 100-year anniversary just makes it special,” he added. “A lot of people have worked in this club for years and we’re the people who got to do that (win Ulster) , so t’s a very privileged position.”

Pondering whether he’d commit for another year with Glenullin, the arrival of his cousin Michael O’Kane as manager – taking over from Paddy Bradley – convinced the younger Bradley.

In a phone call, he told O’Kane he’d be playing and he’d win him a championship. It was Bradley’s sensational two-point score that clinched their Derry final win over Foreglen in a season when he is yet to start a championship outing.

“After the first 15 minutes there was only one team in it,” Bradley said of Sunday’s 3-15 to 0-19 victory.

“We played very well and the game plan worked. I can’t really say nothing because every game this year Michael said to me ‘we need you on the pitch at the end’. Once he gave me a call, I was just glad to get back out there.”

It was a winning return at Clones for Bradley, who had hit 1-5 in a man-of-the-match performance in the 2011 Ulster semi-final.

A cruciate injury forced him out of the final that year against Donegal but nothing was going to deny him and Glenullin on Sunday.

“The last time I was here, I missed Derry’s Ulster final so that’s my first time ever in an Ulster final” he said.

“For the people of Glenullin, like Gerard Heaney and (Chairman) Dan Mullan, two very special people to me personally, it’s for them.

“There’s a lot of people that have missed this year. Patrick (Bradley), Tiddles (Brian Mullan), boys who have played for the last 15-20 years, Dermot McNicholl, Glenullin’s great players. We’re the lucky ones.”

It was a brilliant team performance on the day with a handful of genuine contenders for man of the match on the club’s biggest day.

If Eoin’s goal broke the game, it was Néill McNicholl’s goal – in a 1-5 haul – that applied the finishing touches.

“Michael said to me, we need experienced players on near the end,” Bradley said of his appearance from the bench.

“I worked on it all year and I think the fact that it was down in Clones too is a wee bit special.

“It could’ve been Armagh but it’s the home of Ulster football.

“You would nearly think it was written in the stars – the 100-year anniversary and the way the club is at the minute.

“I never thought I’d be down that road playing in Clones again,” he added of the scenes after the final whistle.

“Your family, your friends, people you grew up with – your club’s special. I played soccer for three or four clubs and it meant the world to me, but this year it’s just a different atmosphere.”