PADDY Bradley says it’s his ambition to manage the Derry senior footballers one day – but knows he has to prove himself with the Oak Leaf U20s first.
In the second part of a wide-ranging interview in today’s Irish News, the 2007 Allstar regards getting involved with Derry again as a “second chance” and hopes by doing so he can erase some of the regrets he carries from his own playing career.
The Glenullin man’s last game for his county was in 2012 - a Championship defeat to Longford in Pearse Park – despite having the intention of playing deep into his 30s.
After making a full recovery from a second cruciate operation at the age of 32 he was never called upon to represent Derry again even though he continued to be leading scorer in club football for the next couple of seasons.
“For me, getting the U20 job is like a second coming because I’ve serious regrets about my Derry career,” Bradley said.
“What I won, what I could’ve won, things that were left behind. And I’ve obviously issues with the way my Derry career ended.”
In the early part of the last decade, he assisted his father, Liam ‘Baker’ Bradley, during his second spell as Antrim manager and enjoyed a brief coaching stint alongside Kevin Cassidy at Gaoth Dobhair.
He spent three fruitful years with Newbridge where he guided them to a Derry Intermediate Championship and promotion in 2017 and is currently in his second season with St Patrick’s Loup, having narrowly lost out to Magherafelt in last year’s county semi-final.
Assuming the Derry U20 managerial position seemed the next step on the coaching ladder for the 39-year-old.
“I’m going into a very professional set-up, far more professional when I played and I can’t wait to get stuck into it.
“I made it known that I wanted to get involved with Derry. In fairness to [Derry chairman] Stephen Barker he wants to see Derry doing well. He’s a great guy, a genuine fella, there is no baggage with him.
“People would have always said, the Derry board were a clique, there were issues with this and that and boys held grudges. He came in with fresh ideas, just a Derry fan wanting to see them do well. So I got involved.”
On the prospect of one day following in the footsteps of Eamonn Coleman, Mickey Moran and Paddy Crozier, Bradley said: “Yes, my long-term goal is to manage Derry. I’ve already told the U20s a lot of the stuff about the regrets I have.
“I can’t turn back the clock but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure they’ll not make the mistakes that we made and that they’re going to achieve their potential.
“We’ll not leave any stone unturned. How far that takes me I don’t know. Obviously I’d like to win an U20 Championship. How long I get to do that: will it be a year or two years, I don’t know. If I am successful it might lead to something bigger and better. But time will tell.
“I probably played in the second best Derry team ever. After the ’93 squad, I’d put the mid-Noughties squad right up there and yet they never won a Championship.”
Derry are currently in Division Three with manager Rory Gallagher entering only his second season with the Oak Leaf county.
Due to the pandemic, the Championship reverted back to a straight knock-out in 2020 with Derry suffering an opening day loss to Armagh who’d just clinched a Division One berth.
