Bradley named Saffrons boss

DERRY man Liam Bradley has been appointed Antrim senior football manager. He succeeds Jody Gormley, who brought his two-year reign to an end after the Tommy Murphy Cup final victory over Wicklow.

The appointment, which was announced by the Antrim County Board late on Thursday night, marks Bradley’s first inter-county managerial job and comes after he lost out to Damien Cassidy in the race to take charge of his native county.

Bradley is the father of Derry senior duo Paddy and Eoin, who were on the Glenullin team that he guided to Derry SFC success last year. He has been installed as manager for a three-year term with an annual review to be held after each season. Niall Conway, who led the Derry minors to last year’s All-Ireland final, is his assistant.

Interviews for the position were conducted by an Antrim County Board sub-committee on Wednesday, with Bradley seeing off three other candidates for the job.

Former Antrim senior manager Brian White, who was in charge between 1999 and 2002, was the long-time frontrunner to fill the position, with Coalisland clubman Conor McSherry, the current manager of Belfast club St Brigid’s, and Portglenone man Frankie Delargy the other two contenders.

Despite Antrim failing to gain promotion from NFL Division Four last spring and crashing out of the Ulster championship at the first hurdle against Cavan, Bradley is optimistic.

“Antrim have great potential, probably more potential than a lot of people give them credit for,” says Bradley. “The media, the experts, have them maybe 25th in Ireland at the minute. I think they are a lot, lot better than that. There is massive potential there that I think hasn’t been touched.”