Bradley stunner books Glenullin their All Ireland Final spot

Glenullin 5-8, Strokestown 2-8

A goalscoring hero named Bradley is nothing new in Glenullin but move over Paddy and Eoin; Willie John is after your crown after firing The Mitchel's into a first All Ireland final with a superb strike that finally killed off the challenge of Strokestown in Ballyshannon on Saturday.

Michael O'Kane men's swung the tie with a lightning quick start to the second half that saw the Derry champions hit 2-02 - the goals from two goal Ryan McNicholl and Traglach Bradley - inside three minutes of the restart to surge eight points ahead.

And it was a lead Glenullin needed as the Connacht and Roscommon's kingpins hit 1-03 without reply to eat into the lead before Bradley, who was introduced for Eunan Boylan only minutes earlier, broke through and picked out the top corner with a fabulous finish.

Bradley's goal kickstarted O'Kane's men once more and they finished with a flourish as Bradley's fellow substitute Joe McNicholl hit another classic goal to make the game safe and book Glenullin their place in Croke Park next Sunday against Kerry’s An Ghaeltacht who sealed a 0-18 to 1-14 win over Sallins in Saturday's other semi-final.

It was thrilling stuff but delighted manager O'Kane was not entirely happy with his team's display in Fr Tierney Park.

"I think we played very poorly in transition and we probably kept them in it because of that, " he admitted after the 5-8 to 2-8 victory.

"We kept giving the ball away. We gave the ball away today more than we did in the whole of our Ulster campaign which is mindless stuff from us and probably showed a wee bit of nerves.

"We looked a bit nervous on the ball and maybe a bit afraid of doing the wrong thing but, look, we are just over the moon at the minute."

And if it was Bradley's goal which sealed the deal, it was another superb display from Ryan McNicholl who laid the foundations of the win as the Derry U20 player hit a goal in each half for a personal tally of 2-01.

"We tell our players to back themselves. We think we are a fairly good side but the best sides always have people who can a wee bit extra, a bit of magic and Ryan McNicholl does magic, there is not getting away from that," smiled O'Kane, "We just tell him to do his thing.

"We are very, very proud of Ryan and the way he conducts himself, so hopefully he just keeps doing his thing!"

Glenullin lost full forward Donal O'Kane to injury before throw-in which meant a start for former county star Eoin Bradley but it was McNicholl who got the Ulster champions off to a strong start with a fourth minute goal which was the game's opening score.

Eoin Bradley tagged on a point but Strokestown responded well through dangerman Diarmuid McGann who latched on to Ciarán Regan’s pass to net just five minutes later as a tense tight opening half finished with the side level at 1-04 points apiece.

Then came the Glenullin blitz, started by half-time sub Fearghal Close who scored the second half's opening point with his first tough. The point lit the blue-touch paper for The Mitchel's as McNicholl hit 1-1 either side of Traglach Bradley fisted goal which had O'Kane men in the boxseat.

Shane McGinley's goal gave Strokestown a route back into the game it the Roscommon men had chances to be even closer than two points but as it has throughout this run, when Glenullin bench was needed, it responded to the call to push their team over the finishing line.

Bradley's brilliant goal was the catalyst and McNicholl's the icing on the cake with the eventual nine point winning margin not fully illustrating a match in which Glenullin's greater clinical edge had proved the difference.

"It was a massive day and look, every team at this level is doing homework on the other teams but I just feel we have the team and the players to put out fires all over the place," added the Glenullin manager, "We knew that if we denied them first phase possession and stopped their kicking game, then it would go a long way to winning the game.

"Everybody backs us and our forwards but our inside defenders were outstanding today. Diarmuid's (McNicholl) block; Diarmuid, Eunan, all of them getting hands in front. Daniel (O'Kane) not letting McGann go by him once. That's just unbelievable, it's unbelievable concentration.

"It was unbelievable analysis that Eoin McNicholl had set up for us last week. It showed us how to do this, how to break Strokestown down and what we had to do but defensively I thought we were awesome.

"They got two goals from balls dropping short that were a bit fortunate but other than that we held them righty. We kept them on the outside, didn't let them into the scoring zone. We are very, very happy!"

Glenullin: Niall O'Kane; Eunan Boylan, Daniel O’Kane, Eunan O’Kane; Conor Rafferty, John O’Kane, Diarmuid McNicholl; Traglach Bradley (1-0), Néill McNicholl (0-1); Cathal Hasson, Chrissy Dempsey, Cillian Bradley (0-1); Conrad Mullan, Eoin Bradley (0-2), Ryan McNicholl (2-1). Subs: Fearghal Close (0-1) for C Mullan (HT), Willie John Bradley (1-0) for Boylan (51), Joe McNicholl (1-0) for Dempsey (51), Dermot O’Kane (0-2, 1f) for E Bradley (56)

Strokestown: Niall Curley; Dillon Casey, Dylan Owens, Timmy Gibbons; Ciarán Regan (0-1), David Neary (0-1), Colin Compton; Fionn Cusack, Colm Neary; Mikey Kavanagh, Kevin Finn (0-1), Shane McGinley (1-1, 1 ’45), Diarmuid McGann (1-3, 1f), Keith Murphy, Stephen Tighe. Subs: Cathal Lavin for Finn (35), Thomas Corcoran for Cusack (37), Evan Moran for Kavanagh (41), Cian Corcoran (0-1) for Murphy (45), Kevin Finn for Tighe (60).

Referee: Barry Judge (Sligo)