AIB Ulster Club Intermediate Football Championship quarter-final: Bredagh v Donaghmoyne (tomorrow, 12.45pm, Pairc Esler)
TEN years after he was part of a Bredagh team that won the Down junior championship, Jody Gormley is now attempting to mastermind the south Belfast club’s bid to conquer Ulster.
Having graduated to intermediate football since that historic win a decade ago, Bredagh’s new breed are determined to carve out their own legacy.
Already they have taken the county crown before easily accounting for a Burt side forced to take on the Down champions less than 24 hours after their Donegal final replay win.
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Gormley admits the circumstances that faced Burt were “unfortunate”, and knows the true test of how far his men have come will take place at Pairc Esler tomorrow against Monaghan kingpins Donaghmoyne.
“It’s a challenge but the Bredagh players have certainly embraced that challenge so far,” said the former Antrim boss Gormley of the club’s foray into provincial competition.
“We said at the start of the year we wanted to go as far as we could in the championship - winning the intermediate championship for the first time was a big plus.
“But immediately after the game the players were adamant that wasn’t to be the end of the journey.”
That victory over An Riocht, though, was particularly sweet.
In both previous years they had fallen at the hands of their Mourne opponents, but Bredagh weren’t to be denied at the third time of asking.
“We’ve been making significant progress,” added Gormley.
“It was part of a natural progression, the boys had built up towards that, we had prepared very well for that game, so our performance on the day was no surprise.”
Bredagh start as slight favourites to overcome their opponents from the Farney County, although Paddy Martin’s side aren’t lacking in quality either.
Forward David Garland was a fixture for the Monaghan minors earlier this year, while full-back Mikey Murnaghan was part of the Farney side that reached the last four of the All-Ireland U21 series.
Injuries have left Bredagh without Cormac Hughes (damaged knee cartilage) and former Fermanagh player and 2008 Allstar nominee Tommy McElroy (cruciate ligament) for the season, but their strong underage set-up has ensured there are plenty of players ready to fill their boots.
For a club that has always had its fair share of players from further afield than the Ormeau Road, their hard work going on behind the scenes is reaping dividends.
Indeed sharp-shooting forward Alan Davidson, originally from Warrenpoint, is the only member of the starting 15 who didn’t play underage football for Bredagh.
Davidson, though, was a key man as Bredagh landed the intermediate crown and his free-scoring performances saw him drafted into Eamonn Burns’s Down squad during the summer.
Although he didn’t see any game-time Gormley, a former Tyrone U21, believes the ex-Ballymena United soccer player has what it takes to make his mark on the inter-county stage.
He said: “On the evidence so far.
“You can only judge a man on what you see, and his attitude to training is second to none and what he has brought to the team in terms of commitment.
“The younger boys would see him as a role model, he has pace and his work-rate is very high so I certainly think he could make some contribution.”
