Brendan Bradley

Early life Brendan Bradley was born on 7 June 1949. A street footballer, he played his first organised match at school when a teacher, who had arranged a trial match, asked him to join. At the age of fifteen, Bradley began playing in the Derry and District League. The youngster started out as a defender before being moved into midfield.

Career

Derry City Bradley signed for Derry City at the age of sixteen. and his tally of 18 goals was the highest in the league. He made his league debut for the club in the 1–1 away draw with Darlington on 19 August 1972. His first goals for the club came in his third league game, when he netted twice in the 3–0 away victory over Workington on 30 August 1972. He then scored in the following four league fixtures, scoring 11 goals in his first 18 league appearances before Herd left as manager following the 3–1 defeat at Bradford City on 2 December 1972. Although he found the net in new manager Graham Taylor's first game in charge, a 2–2 draw at Newport County on 16 December 1972, that would prove to be his final goal for the Imps as he failed to score in his final 12 appearances that season.

Return to Finn Harps With Graham Taylor rebuilding the Sincil Bank based club, Bradley returned to Finn Harps for £4,000 on 22 March 1973. He ended the 1973–1974 season by scoring the final two goals as Harps won the FAI Cup with a 3–1 victory against St Patrick's Athletic at Dalymount Park. The victory also qualified Harps for the following season's European Cup Winners Cup where they were drawn against Bursaspor. Although Bradley scored in the away leg, a 4–2 defeat on 18 September 1974, a 0–0 draw at home on 2 October 1974 was not enough to keep Harps in the competition. His total of 21 league goals saw him head the league scorers chart for a third time. These exploits saw him voted the Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland Personality of the Year for 1976. In the close season he headed for the North American Soccer League where he became a teammate of Eusebio at Canadian side Toronto Metros-Croatia, although he only made a single appearance for the club.

Later career In 1978, he moved to Athlone Town, before linking once more with his erstwhile Finn Harps manager Patsy McGowan at Sligo Rovers in 1979. Although Bradley would score just 11 in his first season, he notched 19 goals the following season. He returned to Harps for the 1982–83 season, staying a further four seasons to become their all-time top goalscorer. He then re-joined Derry City in the January 1986 season, helping the club capture the League of Ireland First Division Shield. Bradley's total of 235 league goals is a League of Ireland record.

Post-playing career After retiring as a player, he decided against a career in football management, commenting that "it would never take the place of playing for me".

In 2019, Bradley was honoured at the FAI International Football Awards, with a Special Merit Award for his outstanding contributions to domestic club football in Ireland.

Honours Club Derry City League of Ireland First Division Shield: 1985–86 Football Association of Ireland (FAI) Special Merit Award: 2018