Paddy Bradley

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Paddy Bradley
Personal information
Sport	Gaelic football
Irish Name	Pádraig Ó Brolcháin
Date of birth	May 23, 1981 (1981-05-23) (age 27)
Place of birth	Derry
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Occupation	Quantity Surveyor
Club information
Club	Glenullin
Position	Full forward
Club Titles
Derry Titles	1
Inter-County
County	Derry
Position	Full forward
Inter-County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Derry	1999-Present	42 13-170 (209)[1]
NFL	2
All Stars	1
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of 22:14, 10 June 2008 (UTC) Includes Championship games only.

Patrick 'Paddy' Bradley (Irish: Pádraig Ó Brolcháin; born 23 May 1981) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Derry, with whom he has won two National League titles. He also won an All Star for his performances in the 2007 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Bradley plays his club football for John Mitchel's GAC Glenullin and has won a Derry Championship with the club.

Bradley plays at full forward for both club and county. He is regarded as one of the best forwards in Ireland^[2], due to his ability to get out in from of his marker for the ball and his accuracy in front of the posts. He has consistently been a high scorer for Derry, with a career high of 2-38 (44) during the 2004 All-Ireland Championship. He is joint free-taker for both Derry and Glenullin.

[edit] Football career

[edit] Inter-county

Bradley in action against Donegal in the 2008 National League

Bradley made his Derry debut in late 1999.^[3] In his inaugural season he won the 2000 National League with Derry, defeating Meath in the final. He made his Ulster Championship debut later that year against Cavan. Derry reached that year's Ulster final, but lost to Armagh.

Bradley has been nominated for five All-Stars (2001, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007), but was overlooked for the actual award on his first four nominations. His omission from the 2004 and 2005 awards in particular have been to the shock and bemusement of many fans and media personnel the whole country over.^{[citation needed]} He was also nominated for the full forward spot on the inaugural GPA Gaelic Team of the Year in 2006,^[4] but lost out to Kieran Donaghy of Kerry.

In 2004 Bradley and Enda Muldoon formed a clinical scoring partnership^[5] on route to the All-Ireland semi-final, where they eventually lost to Kerry. Bradley contributed 2-38 (44) of Derry's total of 7-92 (113) in the 2004 All-Ireland Championship. Bradley had another great season in 2005, for example scoring 1-10 in a man of the match^[6] performance against Monaghan.^[7]

In 2007 Bradley was banned for 12 weeks after an alleged altercation with a referee in a club game. The suspension was eventually lifted though, after an appeal to the Disputes Resolution Authority.^[8] On 19th October 2007 Bradley finally received an Allstar award at full forward for his great performances during the season which ended with five points from play against Dublin. He also collected his fifth Irish News Ulster All Star award in 2007, his fourth in a row. Bradley is currently the captain of Glenullin.^{[citation needed]} He is the brother of fellow Derry footballer Eoin Bradley, and cousin of Derry county player Gerard O'Kane.^{[citation needed]}

He was instumental in Derry winning the 2008 National League, defeating Kerry in the final.^[9][10] Bradley scored an incredible 10 points in a man of the match display in Derry's opening 2008 Ulster Championship game against Donegal.^[11]

[edit] Scoring

Bradley is one of the most prolific scorers in Ireland with both left and right feet, and from both open play and frees.^[12] In the 2001 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship he finished as Ireland's tenth top scorer (and joint top in Ulster) with a total of 2-17 (23). In the 2004 Championship, he was third top scorer in the country with a total of 2-38 (44), once again more than any other Ulster player. He was second top scorer in the 2005 Championship, where he amassed a total of 2-29 (35), despite having played almost half the amount of games as top scorer Stephen O'Neill. He also achieved the highest individual tally of any player that season, with 1-10 against Monaghan. Despite Derry's lack of progress in the 2006 All-Ireland Bradley again finished the season as top scorer in Ulster with a total of 2-20 (26), only bettered by five players in all of Ireland, most of whom played more games. Derry were surprisingly beaten by Longford in the third round of the Qualifiers in 2006, despite and incredible game from Bradley were he scored 2-07.^[13] In the 2007 championship Bradley finished the season with 1-25 (28)

[edit] Scoring details

[edit] Club career

Bradley plays club football for John Mitchel's GAC Glenullin. After suffering disappointment at the semi-final stage on a few occasions, Bradley finally won a Derry Senior Football Championship with Glenullin in 2007. His ten points (six from play) against reigning champions Ballinderry in the semi-final was instrumental in Glenullin reaching the final and he scored the winning point in the final replay against Bellaghy. He also won the Ulster Senior Club Football League with the club in 2007.

Bradley has also represented Chicago Wolfe Tones GFC in Chicago,^[14] for example in 2003 when after a replay^[15] Wolfe Tones won the Chicago Senior Football Championship.^[16][17]

[edit] International

Bradley was surprisingly omitted from the Ireland squad for the 2005 International Rules Series, despite scoring 24 points in a trial game and the Derry County Board forwarded an official letter of protest to GAA headquarters in Croke Park.^[18]

[edit] College career

Bradley was part of the 2001 UUJ team that won the Sigerson Cup. He was top scorer in the final with 0-05^[19].

[edit] Honours

[edit] County

• National Football League - Winner (2): 2000, 2008
• Ulster Senior Football Championship - Runner up: 2000
• Dr. McKenna Cup - Runner up: 2008

[edit] Club

[edit] Glenullin

• Ulster Senior Club Football League - Winner (1): 2007
• Ulster Senior Club Football League - Runner-up: 2008
• Derry Senior Football Championship - Winner (1): 2007
• Underage awards

[edit] Chicago Wolfe Tones

• Chicago Senior Football Championship - Winner (1): 2003, more?

[edit] College

• Sigerson Cup - Winner (1): 2000/2001?
• Ryan Cup - Winner (2): years?

[edit] Province

• Railway Cup - Winner (2): 2004, 2007, more?

[edit] Individual

• All Star - Winner (1): 2007
• All Star - Nominated (runner up): 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006
• GPA All Star - Winner (1): 2007
• GPA All Star - Runner-up: 2006
• Irish News Ulster GAA All-Star - Winner (5): 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
• Derry Senior football captain: 2005

Note: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• John Mitchel's CGL Glenullin
• Official Derry GAA Website
• Cul4kidz interview