LIKE the rest of his generation, Mark Bradley grew up dreaming of becoming a Tyrone hero like his idol Peter Canavan.
Back when forwards ruled the GAA world, the man called ‘God’ was the pick of a free-scoring Red Hand litter that also included Owen Mulligan, Stephen O’Neill, Brian McGuigan, Brian Dooher…
Nothing came easily in their day of course, but the game was more open. Nowadays, even Canavan might struggle to make his name as a forward.
Against Donegal in tomorrow’s Ulster semi-final, 23-year-old Bradley will find space hard to come by and delivery of the ball sporadic at best.
He’ll be isolated and man-marked, there’ll be sweepers to contend with and he’ll have to track a defender around Clones at times – in the quarter-final against Derry the Killyclogher forward popped up in his own full-back line at one stage.
It’s a lot to contend with, but he doesn’t mind.
“It’s a privilege to be playing for Tyrone,” says the affable 23-year-old.
“When you’re out kicking about, mimicking the likes of Peter Canavan and co, that’s all you want to be doing.
“It’s quite defensive now, you don’t get the ball as much or in the places you want to get it – in front of the nets obviously – but it’s just something you have to work around. Most club and county teams are playing that template now so you get used to it.
“But I don’t think people are too worried about building profiles for themselves, they just want to get the win. At the end of the day you’re there for your county.”
Bradley was fresh out of winning the All-Ireland U21 title with the Red Hands when he made his senior Championship debut against Donegal back in 2015.
Defeat that day meant Tyrone had to take the long road through the Qualifiers and Bradley came on as a sub to score against Limerick before nailing down a starting spot for the rest of the campaign.
He registered five points in the wins against Meath, Tipp, Sligo and Monaghan and two more in the All-Ireland semi-final loss against Kerry when he had his side’s best goal chance but was denied by Brendan Kealy.
Second-season syndrome made 2016 much more forgettable. Bradley failed to score in the Championship and lost his place in the side after starting the wins against Derry and Cavan.
He was a black card replacement for Cathal McShane when Tyrone beat Donegal in last year’s Ulster final, but he’ll start the game tomorrow and says nothing gets the blood up like a meeting with the six in-a-row provincial finalists.
“At times you can nearly take it (playing for Tyrone) for granted but then you go out and play the likes of Donegal at Clones and it just makes everything worthwhile,” he said.
“We didn’t know where we stood before the Derry game (an 11-point win) and we don’t know now and I suppose Donegal will be in the same position – they played Antrim (a 16-point win) and it was a relatively easy victory as well, bar the first half.
“It’s hard to know where you are but Donegal will be a massive step up. We know what quality they have, the likes of the McHughs and the U21s who are coming up now and more than capable of taking over from the very experienced players who have stepped away.
“They have talent coming through in abundance.”
In Tyrone’s opener in Derry, Bradley was in contention for a man of the match award after an outstanding opening 20 minutes during which he scored one point and was involved in several others.
Marker Niall Keenan was able to curb his enthusiasm and he was substituted in the second half after missing a couple of scoring chances.
“In the second half I was still getting in good positions,” he says.
“I got a couple of shots but they went wide, but that’s something that happens. Hopefully the next day you got out and rectify that.
“It’s a matter of being patient and, when you get the ball, making the right decision and trying to get a shot away if you get a scoring opportunity.”
He knows that the number 13 jersey he’ll wear tomorrow means he has to deliver. Tyrone had 11 different scorers against Derry and competition for places in the panel is so intense that a bad day can cost you’re starting spot.
“There are a few men who don’t even get to tog out on the day who are more than capable of starting and that’s how tight it is,” he explains.
“The likes of ‘DD’ David Mulgrew came on against Derry, Darren McCurry came on and took several great scores so that shows the strength of the bench.
“Competition is crazy and it always has been since I came on the Tyrone panel but that’s good because it means you’re really pushing yourself to get ahead of other players.
“You want competition because if it was easy getting a spot, well, we wouldn’t be where we are. You could start the year at corner-forward and at the end of it you could be getting sub appearances. It all goes on form and if you’re not on form you probably won’t be playing so it’s just trying to keep that intensity the whole year.
“It can be difficult, it’s a challenge but you wouldn’t be playing for your county if you didn’t enjoy it.”
The challenge is made easier thanks to the company of Conall and Tiernan McCann, his clubmates from Killyclogher. Before games the three of them “shoot hoops to chill out” and on the field they have established a near-telepathic understanding.
“If I see Conall with the ball he knows where I’m going and if he’s hitting the ball in I know where to run,” said Bradley.
“We have good chemistry and it comes from years of playing together.”
Conall McCann made only his fifth Championship appearance against Derry and Bradley hopes to see him continue to flourish in his midfield role.
“He’s a magnificent footballer and I’ve seen it for years playing for Killyclogher,” he said.
“He has a new-found confidence, he has talent in abundance and it’s great to see him taking his chance now. Hopefully he’ll keep pushing forward.”
The McCanns are both over six-feet tall while Bradley, at 5’7”, is relatively short in stature by modern inter-county standards. But he says his lack of height doesn’t count against him when he comes up against a physical defender.
“If you ask Sean Cavanagh, I’m sure he gets just as good a touch as I get,” he said.
“I’m sure if you were in the other changingroom they’d be saying ‘get stuck in good and early’ but it doesn’t matter what height you are – 5’5” or 6’5” – it doesn’t matter.”
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight - it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
