Tyrone’s Bradley eager to start against Armagh

Tyrone’s Mark Bradley

NFL Division one

Tyrone v Armagh

Saturday, Healy Park, 7pm

Tyrone’s Mark Bradley is hoping to get his first taste of the Tyrone Armagh rivalry on Saturday night at Healy Park.

One of the young, rising stars on Mickey Harte’s panel, Bradley has yet to tog out against the Orchard county.

“For myself, it’s definitely the first game against Armagh. I’m looking forward to it after watching from the sidelines last year and even further back,” he added.

“There’s still a rivalry there and the games have always been hard-hitting. It’s going to be very tough for us to get past them.”

Armagh are at the foot of Division two, and need a win badly in order to ease the pressure of relegation.

As Tyrone have already earned promotion to Division one this season, the man in the stand might think the pressure is off the Red hand players, but that’s not the case.

“Our aim all along was to return to the top flight because that’s where you want to be playing. It’s good that all of our five games have been won and hopefully we can continue that in the next run against Armagh,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say that the pressure has eased because everybody is still fighting for places on the championship team. Maybe to the outsider the pressure isn’t as great because we’ve been promoted, but there’s definitely no sense of that within the squad.

“Armagh are definitely going to be tough because they need the points, so it’s likely going to be an excellent game.”

See full story in today’s Gaelic Life