CONOR Bradley looked over the fence watching the Aghyaran footballers train, thinking: ‘I wish I was one of them…’ As they trained, the Aghyaran footballers looked back at the Liverpool star thinking: ‘I wish I was him...’
Bradley, who will sit out Northern Ireland’s double-header against Switzerland and Sweden as he recovers from a hamstring injury, played for the Aghyaran club until U16 level and would doubtless have been a star in GAA for Tyrone if he hadn’t been a world class soccer player as well.
Former Tyrone full-back Ronan McNamee is married to a cousin of the supremely-talented Liverpool right-back who is on the cusp of winning his first Premier League title with the Merseysiders.
“He would always have played for Aghyaran when he could,” explains McNamee.
“But he was going over-and-back to Liverpool for a long time. I remember in 2019 we were playing Drumragh in an U16 final in Trillick. He was there and I think he had only signed a professional contract the day before the game.
“Aghyaran were massive underdogs in the game and Conor shouldn’t have been playing. He didn’t play in the first half but he came out of the dressingroom togged out for the second half. We were beat but he played his part.”
Conor Bradley (back row, second from left) during his underage days with St Davog's
When he’s back home in county Tyrone, Bradley is often up at the St Davog’s club and he’s only too happy to get an O’Neill’s ball back in his hands and step into the senior training.
“We’d be training and we’d see him up in the top field doing his runs and doing a bit of kicking,” he explains.
“You’d see the interest he had. He’d be standing looking over the fence and the next minute he’d be on the field and then sitting in the dugout… He’ll always have that desire to get involved in things.
“I remember him floating down and he’d have got involved in the training. Our manager Michael Henderson didn’t want him getting involved (in case he got injured) and he told him: ‘No chance are you gonna be in here…’
"He's a real good fella..." says Ronan McNamee of clubmate Conor Bradley
“It wasn’t a case that he couldn’t do it but if he’d ended up getting injured it would have been an absolute disaster so Michael only let him join in with the kicking drills.”
After impressing on a loan spell at Bolton Wanderers, Bradley made his full Liverpool Premier League debut on January 21 last year and scored his first goal in an eye-catching display against Chelsea 10 days later.
“He’s had some two years – it’s been life-changing for him,” says McNamee.
“That Chelsea game… Scoring a goal and getting three assists in one game… His life changed overnight. It’s very positive for young ones around home because Conor had his fingers in a whole pile of pies.
“He played Gaelic, he played soccer with St Pat’s in the town and he would have done cross-country with Finn Valley in Ballybofey as well. It’s not a case that he stuck with one sport and doing all those things must have helped him.
“Everything he’s doing is quality and he’s a real good fella. He lost his daddy (Joe) last year and his mother Linda is a real lady…
“They’re just good people and they would have run him round the country so it’s nice to see them reaping the rewards of it all. There’s a lot more Liverpool fans around home now than there ever was.”