Fed-up Bradley calls for Derry changes

Paddy Bradley has launched a stinging broadside at Derry GAA chiefs and a number of stayaway players after the county’s disappointing exit from the All-Ireland football championship in Pearse Park last weekend.

That defeat to Longford, in the first round of the qualifiers, brought a difficult season to a premature close, one in which they almost slipped into Division Three of the Allianz League and fell 10 points short of Donegal in the Ulster Championship.

“Whenever I started off, the in-thing was to get playing for your county. You were mad to get playing for the county,” Bradley, one of Derry’s best players Saturday, told The Irish News.

“Sadly, now boys don’t want to play for the county anymore. Let’s be honest, some of the best players aren’t turning out.

“They aren’t making themselves available. We can’t afford to have our best players not playing for us.”

Manager John Brennan pointed out after the Longford defeat that Derry were missing eight of the starters from last year’s Ulster final defeat to Donegal due to a combination of retirements, injuries and unavailability but Bradley believes their demise owes as much to other factors.

“In the times that we are in, you can’t be spending money foolishly,” he explained.

“But the county team is your flagship team.

“If John Brennan needed something, he should get it. I’m not sure that was happening. Everything is a penny-pinching operation.

“The physios were called into a meeting recently. They were pulled about players strapping up their wrists because of the cost of the tape. Don’t get me wrong, we get our expenses, our mileage and our gear. We get what is required. But you get the bare minimum. You don’t get anything over and beyond. I think that is part of the reason why there is such apathy towards playing for the county. The players know that they’re not going to be looked after like the Dublins and the Corks of this world.”

Bradley has been playing for Derry since 1999 and has won a pair of National League medals, contested Ulster finals and All-Ireland semi-finals while claiming an All-Star award in 2007 but clearly feels there are too many obstacles between the team and further success.

“Before we played Donegal, the clubs played six matches in three weeks. For the county board to set six matches in that space of time is madness. We lost key men to injury. Gerard O’Kane is the stand-out.

“It’s madness. No other county is doing it. I know I will be criticised. I know I will get abuse for it. But the bottom line is I am telling the truth.”

No one from the Derry County Board was available for comment last night.