A record-breaking Derry footballing legend has been honoured for his sporting career in a civic reception.
Best known for his time with Derry City and Co Donegal side Finn Harps, Brendan Bradley (75) retains the record for the most ever individual goals scored in the League of Ireland at 235.
In 2015, he was rated as the League of Ireland’s player of all time by The Examiner newspaper.
His 20 year playing career, from 1966 to 1986, also included spells with Lincoln City, Athlone Town and Sligo Rovers.
The “long overdue” reception at the Guildhall on Friday night saw many of Mr Bradley’s former teammates travel for the occasion.
Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Ruairí McHugh, called him “a true legend of Irish sport.”
“With 235 goals, Brendan Bradley is still to this day the League of Ireland’s all-time top scorer,” he said.
“As I said at the reception, so many footballers came before him and so many came after him – some great goal scorers and players they were too - but it’s an amazing statistic that a man from Creggan still sits at the top of the charts of Irish soccer in 2025, almost 40 years after he stopped playing.”
Speaking to the Irish News in September, Mr Bradley said it was playing with his friends on the streets of Creggan that set first set him on his path to sporting glory.
“I was born in Malin Gardens in the Creggan in 1949, and it was a time way before video games and all that, so growing up, football was our main source of entertainment,” he said.
“And there were some great players there, so you picked up a lot of skills without even knowing it.
“Like everyone else at that time, you hoped that someone would notice you and ask you to play for Derry City.”
While only making a handful of appearances for the side between 1966-69, he also made an unexpected return towards the end of his career when the side made the League of Ireland in 1985.
“Running out to a full house at the Brandywell is dream stuff for a Derry boy like me,” he recalled.
