Old habits die hard. Midway through Glenullin’s All-Ireland semi-final against Strokestown in Ballyshannon last Saturday, Liam Bradley made a beeline for the perimeter wire. There was something his son needed to hear.
“As far as I’m concerned Eoin still needs a wee bit of help,” smiles Liam. “I was a bit annoyed at him. Eoin is 42 now and, while he wouldn’t admit it, he’s coming to the end of his career.
“Hopefully he can play for another two or three years yet but at one stage last Saturday I thought he was playing a wee bit too deep. He was coming out beyond the 20-metre line, now the legs aren’t what they used to be, and I had to go down to the wire and give him a roaring to get back in on the edge of the square.”
He laughs at the moment now, just the latest dispatch in more than 40 years of constructive parental advice. Probably no point stopping at this stage. The family and the club – for Liam Bradley they are one and the same.
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In 1985, when John Mitchel’s Glenullin won the second of their three Derry senior football championships, there were seven Bradley brothers on the panel – including Liam.
When they won their third Derry SFC in 2007, Liam was the manager and his two sons – Paddy and Eoin – were key players. Indeed, Paddy was the team captain and scored the match-winning point in the replay final win over Bellaghy.
Paddy, an All Star in 2007, managed Glenullin to back-to-back Derry intermediate titles in 2022 and 2023 (but they were not promoted to senior in either of those years due to a competition restructuring process). Paddy has now passed the managerial baton to his cousin, Michael O’Kane.
There are four Bradleys on the current squad – alongside Eoin are his cousins Traglach, Cillian and Willie John. There are a scattering of O’Kanes too. More cousins.
“People sometimes don’t realise that whenever we say the club means everything, we do really mean that the club does mean everything.
“And that’s not just me, who has been involved in the club all my life, saying it. That goes for pretty much everybody in our community.
“We are a very small community, between a wee town called Garvagh and Dungiven. We have approximately 160 families to pick from.
“All we have is the chapel and the football club. There’s not even a public house – the only bar in the place is the social club (at the Glenullin club grounds) and the only shop belongs to the football club as well.
“Anything and everything revolves around the club. Births, deaths, the whole thing revolves around the Gaelic club. It’s the centre of everything.”
And actions speak louder than words. Just hours after beating Strokestown last weekend to qualify for Sunday’s All-Ireland club intermediate football final against An Ghaeltacht, snow started to blanket Derry.
By Monday afternoon, much of the county resembled a scene from the front of a Christmas card – all wintry and white. But, six days out from one of the biggest days in the club’s history, there were no seasonal greetings for the snowfall around Glenullin.
Several neighbouring clubs offered their facilities but O’Kane wanted to avoid any upheaval, favouring instead to stay local. So, the club sent up the bat signal and out came the “Ultras”.
“About 40 or 50 people turned up with shovels and brushes and whatever they could get their hands on,” says Liam. “They cleared the pitch.”
Liam had two spells managing the Antrim footballers and also coached various club teams but Glenullin has always been home.
Earlier this week, Eoin described his vivid childhood memories of journeys in the family car to and from training and matches.
“It’s important to pass it down through the generations, that’s my view,” says Liam. “It’s part of our heritage, part of Irish society. If that connection doesn’t come from the family first, where will it come from?”
The club was founded in 1925, so to win a maiden Ulster title in December to mark that centenary was special. Now, they stand on the verge of winning a first All-Ireland club title.
But, truth be told, they are already harbouring grander dreams in Glenullin. Sunday, they hope, will in time be viewed through the rear-view mirror as having been a stepping stone.
“Our next aim after this weekend is the John McLaughlin Cup in Derry – we want to be pushing for another senior title,” says Liam.
“And it would be lovely to do it in 2028 because that would be the centenary of when we won our first title.
“We have put in a lot of hard work through the years and we have great facilities now. So, while we are happy to be in an All-Ireland intermediate final, our dream is to be in Croke Park in the senior final at some stage.
“I might not see it, I hope I do, but that has always been the aim. And we preach that to the cubs whenever they come in through the door, we want to be the best club team in Ireland.”
Right now, though, there is the small matter of An Ghaeltacht. And we’ve all seen this movie before: a Kerry team lands at Croke Park for an All-Ireland final ... you know how it usually ends.
“I hear this a lot about Kerry football and the Kerry tradition, but there is a tradition in Derry as well,” adds Liam. “There are good footballers on both teams. Hopefully if we turn up on the day and perform then we will be coming back up the road with the cup.
“Either way, there will be a lot of very proud Glenullin people in Croke Park on Sunday. And there will be nobody prouder than myself.”
As he watches his son, his nephews, his people and his club. Liam Bradley’s family.
