Bradley basks in cup glory

ONE of the most scintillating soccer players to ever come out of the county picked up his first piece of top-flight silverware yesterday (Sunday), as Liverpool FC ground out a hard-fought 1-0 win over Chelsea FC.

Conor Bradley of Aghyaran, who captured the club’s player of the month accolade in January, proudly lined out at rightback during yesterday’s Carabao Cup final clash at Wembley Stadium.

The match remained scoreless until Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk in the dying minutes of extra time grabbed the only goal of the game, heading home an 118th minute winner.

Since becoming a regular fixture in the Reds’ starting 11, Bradley has dominated conversation in punditry boxes and sporting columns, winning the affection of Liverpool boss, Jürgen Klopp in the process.

However, yesterday’s victory marks the Tyrone man’s first acquisition of a major trophy at the highest echelons of world football.

Reflecting on the former Omagh CBS student’s meteoric rise, his former coach, Stephen Erskine said, “You always knew there was a player in him, but he’s doing absolutely amazing now and I’m delighted for him.”

Following another momentous landmark in Conor Bradley’s career, a former coach of the 20-year-old has compared the rising Liverpool star to Wayne Rooney in terms of his mentality.

Stephen Erskine, who, along with Steafan Deery, coached Bradley between the ages of nine and 12 as part of the IFA’s Player Development Programme said the Northern Ireland international was ‘a coach’s dream’ to work with.

The Killen native has been thrust further into the spotlight in recent weeks over the weekend, Liverpool FC’s Carabao Cup win over Chelsea, seeing the young talent seize his first medal as a Red.

Erskine said he wasn’t sure if Bradley would reach the level he is currently at but admitted that at a young age he was a special talent.

“Back then he was very, very talented but I didn’t know he’d turn out the way he did,” admitted the Fivemiletown man.

“You always knew there was a player in him but he’s doing absolutely amazing now and I’m delighted for him.

“He was a brilliant child to work with, first and foremost he was a coach’s dream. He had a willingness to learn and take information on board from a young age. That set apart from the rest.

“He had all the ability, all the things you would look for, but the mental side, even at a young age, for me was the big thing.

“When chatting to him one-to-one it was like talking to a 15-year-old instead of someone who was 10 or 11 when it came to his football knowledge or his willingness to learn.

“He was like any other young boy but when you started talking football he was like a different animal, it was like flicking a switch.

“He had a relentless willingness to learn and get more information. If he was doing something wrong, he would have got the right way out of you and the next time you seen him he was doing it the right way. He had theability to learn so quickly.

“The reason he reminded me of Rooney was the real desire to be the best no matter what we were doing.

“I was fortunate to witness Rooney as a 12-to-14-year-old at Everton when I was working at their academy. He was a completely different level to his peers in all aspects, but especially mentality, and that’s what Conor was like for me.

“He can do you for pace, he can do you for skill. At that stage, he was more of an attacker and loved to get forward and was involved in everything.

“He had the willingness to win as well. If he had to track back, he was more than willing to do it.”

Away from the training paddock, Erskine watched the young Bradley playing for his hometown club St Pat’s Castlederg on a number of occasions.

Bradley quickly progressed through the national/Club NI underage ranks while coming to the attention of Liverpool.

At Club NI, he would have been coached by the likes Conor Marlin, Gerard Boyle, Declan Devine, Marty McCann and Darren Murphy to name but a few.

By then he had moved clubs, first to Maiden City and the Dungannon United Youth, before sealing a dream move to Anfield.

“Once he started to mix it at national level his performances went through the roof,” continued Erskine.

“His parents were a great support as well and that can mean so much in sport.

“He was full of potential and now he’s delivering on that potential.

“The child developed because he wanted to develop. Obviously a wee bit of good coaching helped, but a lot of it comes down to the child and whether or not they want to learn and develop.

“He was willing to do whatever it took to get better.”

He added, “Conor is the sort of young man who will never stop learning.”

By Tommy Nethery and Emmet McElhatton