Paddy Bradley fuelled by regrets and failure as he takes up Donegal challenge

Paddy Bradley admits that not a single day goes by when he doesn’t reflect back on his own near misses at senior intercounty level.

He’s a former All-Star and has also represented Ireland at International Rules level. However, the accolades back home in Derry are all individual ones.

But that inner turmoil isn’t intertwined with the regret that the Oak Leafers simply weren’t good enough back then to lift major honours. Bradley’s perpetual disappointment centres on the fact that he believes they were.

Airing those frustrations back then meant he was often cast as a disruptive rogue or meddling maverick within his own county.

But no different to the likes of Jim McGuinness and even Rory Gallagher in the past, Bradley seems intent on using those negative experiences on the field to help guide his own coaching odyssey off it.

“Listen, I don’t mind saying that there is real regret there in regards to my own playing days,” he said. “I think the Derry sides I played on… we underachieved. It’s something I think about daily. I’m not joking.

“It probably does mean you bring that wee bit of extra fire in the belly into coaching. I’m trying to use the lessons, good and bad, from my own days and transfering that over now to the training field. At the end of the day, Gaelic Football is all about the winning.

“Given the professional commitment now demanded of what are still amateur athletes; if you have medals on the mantelpiece at the end of it all then you won’t have as many regrets”.

This current group of Donegal players can probably relate, to some degree, with what Bradley is saying. But from what he’s seen so far, the Glenullin clubman believes the side has the potential to right their own wrongs in 2023.

He added: “I think these lads, when they look back at the last four, five or six years they’ll have their own frustrations. They’ve been so close. Genuinely, there isn’t a whole lot that needs to be changed with Donegal.

“I don’t think this group is that far away. Last year, the Ulster final against Derry, Donegal had that game in the palm of their hand. So the hope for the backroom staff and management team is that some small changes and tweaks can once again steer things in the right direction”.

The commute from his home in Kilrea, to the Donegal Training Centre in Convoy, is an hour and ten minutes. And it’s a spin Bradley is enjoying so far. But, he insists, the real barometer of the new management team’s work will start in earnest when they go away to Down in the McKenna Cup, this Sunday.

“You want to work at the highest level possible. I’ve been working with club sides in Derry the last few years and at county U-20. So this was the next logical step. When the opportunity with Donegal came up, I jumped at it.

“Being from a neighbouring county and knowing the club scene down there, it felt like a good fit. And listen, there is serious talent in that Donegal squad. I’ve always had a soft spot for Donegal. I’ve obviously worked with Gaoth Dobhair in the past.

“As a player, Ballybofey was always a venue that had a very unique and special feel to it on championship day. My wife Ciara, her father was a Donegal man. He was from the Cross in Killygordon.

“I didn’t know Paddy Carr but once I had that first conversation with him I have to say I was really impressed. I’d know Aidan O’Rourke really well. I won a Sigerson Cup with Aidan at Jordanstown. So we’ve had some really good conversations about football and what we’d feel is the right approach.

“It’s a good mix, I feel. And listen, modern football probably demands that. It’s gone to a whole new level. I’m only in for the last six weeks but the backroom staff, the medical staff and the performance analysis staff are all top notch. There is a really good buzz there.

“I’m enjoying it but, listen, the proof is always in the pudding. We are working really hard at this moment. And I know everyone is looking forward to the actual games starting this weekend in the McKenna Cup.

“And the games will come thick and fast. But there is a real opportunity now to look at lads on the fringes. We obviously will have player involved at the various colleges also. But the reality is, with our opener against Kerry in the NFL looming, and it being a condensed season; we need to hit the ground running”.