![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Giles_and_Bradley_(1)_(1)-1758636728420.jpg\")
John Giles and Brendan Bradley<\/p>\n
Reading a super interview by Pat McArt and a colleague in the Irish News with the legendary Brendan Bradley last week brought back many happy memories.<\/p>\n
Some years ago in this column, I wrote about running into Brendan \u2014 one of my football heroes \u2014 in Derry city centre and it brought me right back to April 21, 1974 when Finn Harps defeated St Patrick\u2019s Athletic 3-1 at Dalymount Park to lift the FAI Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bradley scored twice after an amazing early free kick from Charlie Ferry and the supporters went wild. Not only did the team contain many great Derry players but Harps had a huge Derry support at that time.<\/p>\n
A mix of us were walking past the Gresham Hotel when disgruntled Pat\u2019s supporters started giving us dog\u2019s abuse and hurling rocks and stones across from a nearby construction site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Later, as manager Patsy McGowan recalled with delight… when the team travelled down O\u2019Connell Street, some gurrier roared: \u201cGo back to the bog where you belong!\u201d Patsy waved the cup in the air and shouted: \u201cWe may be going back to the bog, but the Cup is going with us!\u201d<\/p>\n
Patsy probably never knew that, earlier, as we were under siege on the same street, one very organised Derryman shouted: \u201cRight lad, let\u2019s show these Free State b…..ds that when it comes to stonethrowing, they\u2019ve taken on the wrong boys!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the Bogside and Creggan lads returned the stones, the St Pat\u2019s supporters learned to their horror that accuracy was not just confined to Charlie Ferry free kicks or Brendan Bradley headers!<\/p>\n
In Brendan\u2019s chat with Pat, he recalled that had it not been for a big summer cup game in Buncrana his career might never have begun.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story goes that in 1969 the Finn Harps manager, Patsy McGowan, was desperate to find a goal-scorer after the Donegal club had joined the League of Ireland that year with disastrous results, losing their first ever senior game 10-2 to Shamrock Rovers. He was travelling everywhere looking for a centre-forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatsy saw me that day and apparently he turned to his assistant manager, Bobby Toland, and said, \u2018That\u2019s it, that\u2019s my centre forward there\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley subsequently joined Finn Harps for a fee of a measly \u00a3100, and was put in the first team straight away. And soon he was on his way to a career that was to include clashes with top English and Scottish sides, representing the League of Ireland, playing in Canada with Eus\u00e9bio, the famous Portuguese international, and so much more.<\/p>\n
But there was one story Pat had to check with Brendan at the outset: \u201cIs it true the Harps\u2019 doctor insisted you went on a diet of Guinness and steak?\u201d Brendan laughed that yarn off, but diet or not, he scored an incredible 29 goals in 26 games, including all six in a 6-1 victory over Sligo Rovers. He consequently topped the scoring charts for a fourth time in his career and was named the Soccer Writers\u2019 Association of Ireland Personality of the Year for 1976 so \u2014 as Pat says\u2026 \u201cHe was, without question, the top star in Irish soccer at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Giles and Brendan Bradley<\/p>\n
He retired with an astonishing 309 goals in all competitions and Pat adds: \u201cAs I was leaving his home he and his wife stood at the door and during our conversation he admitted that despite being a Derry man through and through, his first love is still Finn Harps. And Marie reiterated that by pointing out that her dress was \u2018Finn Harps blue!\u2019 Brendan concluded: \u2018When you go up to Ballybofey and the sun is shining it\u2019s lovely. There\u2019s a lovely green pitch nowadays, and I would love to go out there one more time\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
A wonderfully warm and engaging interview\u2026 well done to both. During a time of grim news and cynicism, it did my heart good.<\/p>\n
Mandelson and Donegal<\/p>\n
When Peter Mandelson got the heave-ho recently as British ambassador to the US, I was reminded of a flurry of excitement some 25 years ago, when he and his boyfriend, a Mr deSilva, stayed with BBC presenter Sean Rafferty in the latter\u2019s Ramelton home. I knew Sean \u2014 not terribly well \u2014 but colleagues in the Beeb said he was a very convivial host. The town on the Lennon was a cool venue, with Cilla Black, Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones being spotted there around the Millennium, but for Mandelson, it was a bolthole away from the abuse in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n