Killyclogher’s Bradley ready for another roller-coaster ride

SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND

KILLYCLOGHER established a bit of a reputation as the ‘cardiac kids’ in last year’s Championship with the majority of their matches including a dramatic late twist in the tale, but seasoned attacker Mark Bradley said that comes with the territory in Tyrone.

Late goals kept St Mary’s alive in their early round matches with both Omagh and Carrickmore but come the semi-final it was them on the wrong side of the sucker punch at the death with Errigal Ciaran’s Peter Harte blasting over a winning point with the last kick of the contest.

The rest was history as far as Errigal were concerned as their campaign took them all the way to Croke Park, and an All-Ireland Final, but Killyclogher were only left to rue what might have been.

Bradley admitted through that such wildly fluctuating emotions, not to mention entertainment, ensured that the crowds keep coming out in their droves to take in Tyrone Championship matches

“We were very lucky in some cases to progress at all. We should have been put out by Omagh in the first round only to get a large slice of luck at the end and that was the trend in the next two matches with Carrickmore.

“It was then looking like we were going to snatch it from the death for a third time but a bit of magic from Petey put an end to that.

“But our run sums up the Tyrone Championship. Its swings and roundabouts. Any team on their day can win and I suppose that is what makes it so exciting to neutrals and that is why it does attract such big crowds.”

Killyclogher begin their quest for a first O’Neill Cup title since 2016 against Loughmacrory at Healy Park this Friday night and Bradley appreciates that they are meeting a team with lofty ambitions of their own.

“They have just been getting better year on year. I know the Tyrone camp had a training camp down in Loughmacrory one day and their facilities are brilliant. They also love football in those parts so it’s one of the toughest draws we could have got.

“The calibre of their players continues to rise and the fact they have so many in county teams now reflects how strong their squad now is. There is other lads who could be getting call ups next season too so it’s impressive what they are building there.

“Their whole community also rows in behind them, we all seen the backing their give their Tyrone players, so they will have some backing on the night against us, but we will have our on support us too so it should make for a good atmosphere.”

Eoin Bradley is still at the helm at Ballinamullan this season and he has plenty of quality and experienced campaigners to call upon himself in the form of Michael Rafferty, Nathan Donnelly, the McCann brothers and of course Bradley himself, who returned to the county fold this past campaign.

He feels they are in fine enough fettle as they head into the Championship, and look to emulate the heroics of 2016,

“That doesn’t seem that long ago but when you start counting up it won’t be long until ten years have passed.

“The league this year was a bit up and down for us. We ended up about sixth and probably would have liked a few more points. We had quite a few injuries and a few men away. We have slowly got everyone back in the last while and hopefully they will all be back for the Championship.”