Bradley eyeing elusive crown for Slaughtneil
Manager determined to sit on All-ireland throne at long last
SLAUGHTNEIL manager Paul Bradley has a special reason for welcoming the reintroduction of the Ulster Club Football Championship to the fixtures calendar.
In what was his debut season last year, Bradley guided his team to another Derry Championship title but, because of the limited fixtures window imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the provincial Club Championship was scrapped.
Now, though, it is back on the menu and Bradley is delighted.
“While we won the Ulster Club title in 2014, and again in 2016 and 2017, the All-ireland Club title continued to elude us,” explained Bradley. “We regained the Derry title last year but this year we have an extra incentive to try and retain our crown.
“We would love to get another crack at the Ulster Club title, but we know that there would be an awful lot of hard work involved in even reaching that stage.
“We have not been able to make an impact in the All-ireland Club Championship to date, and that’s something we would relish.
“When you look at the standard of fare in many of the Club Championships last year, and the fact that Corofin have continued to dominate the All-ireland Club series, you know how hard it is going to be to make meaningful progress.”
Nonetheless, Bradley believes that the depth of experience within his side and their desire to achieve what has proven to be an elusive goal to date can help fire his players up further for the year ahead.
“Let’s keep our feet on the ground here,” stated Bradley. “Winning the Derry title has become harder, never mind anything else, so it will be very much one step at a time.
“The Ulster Club Championship has highlighted the depth of quality there is in the province over recent years, so we know that even before a ball is kicked getting success at any level is going to be difficult.”
But Bradley takes comfort from the fact that his battalion of thoroughbreds will be back on board. It is expected that Karl Mckaigue will have recovered from injury to join his brother Chrissy, Patsy Bradley, Brendan Rogers, Cormac O’doherty, Shane Mcguigan and Christopher Bradley in a line-up that will follow a familiar pattern.
Bradley is keen, too, to pinpoint the ongoing contributions of Anton Mcmullan, Meehaul Mcgrath, Paul Mcneill, Keelan Feeney and the rapidly emerging Brian Cassidy to Slaughtneil’s progress.
“I think we now have a good balance within the side and we are very keen to make a big push for honours. It will be anything but easy, we know that. When you look at the way teams like Ederney and Dungannon Clarkes came through to win their county titles just a few months ago, this underlines the way things are going,” said Bradley.
Both Dungannon Clarkes and Ederney had particular reason for being disappointed that the Ulster Club Championship did not take place last year. The Clarkes ended a 64-year famine by winning the Tyrone Senior Football Championship title, while Ederney surged to the top in Fermanagh after a 52-year wait.
Bradley acknowledges that both teams would have felt that they missed out on “something special” because of their non-involvement in the Ulster Club series, which is scheduled for the last quarter of this year, possibly with fans permitted to attend.
“It’s a great competition, something special really, but I think we all understand that the Ulster Council in particular was placed in a very difficult position indeed in terms of staging fixtures last year,” pointed out Bradley.
“They did a great job in the circumstances when you think about it. After all, when all is said and done, the health of the population must always be paramount.”