How do you beat a blanket defence?
You can try kicking scores from deep. It won’t work.
You can try running right through it. It definitely won’t work.
You can try an early ball in. But you have to sustain it.
Or… or you can just Bradley it. That’s right, you can set Eoin Bradley loose and tell him to work his magic.
As predicted in the pre-game analysis, the sole difference between Derry and Down was one man: Derry’s lone full forward.
Eoin Bradley was the reason Brian McIver’s men were able to squeeze past Down in the Ulster quarter finals 0-12 to 0-11. Derry had a ‘Skinner’. The visitors didn’t.
But the Oak Leafers’ lack of service to their frightening number 14 in the second period was why they almost lost the game, too. Even with Down restricted to 14 men for most of the half.
In the first period, they fed Bradley, because it was working. Of course it was.
Derry worked the ball through the middle and then they looked up.
After a minute, Mark Lynch tried an early ball, it didn’t come off but he got the thumbs up from their patient man on the inside. Because it was the right thing to do.
And of course, with his first six touches of the football thereafter, the Glenullin club man scored three times, he won a free that was dispatched by his captain and he set up a goal chance for the side as well.
At times, there were as many as three Down jerseys keeping an eye on him beneath the posts but he was breaking free to latch onto passes and the hand pass he took off Kevin Johnston on the wing before swinging over his shoulder – and the posts – was testament to the difficulties in silencing the man.
Five of his first six touches were devastating as Bradley got a 0-5 shift up and running early doors. He even won ball himself with tackling and harrying because his team were giving him something to chase.
But, after the break, the side stopped looking for him.
Whereas Bradley was often the focal point of Derry’s attack in the first half, he got just one pass forward into attack in the last 35 minutes.
Two further times he took possession in an advanced area but it was just a recycled move when the chance and the space had long since gone.
Even with the numerical advantage, Derry fell into bad habits and stopped looking up for their go-to man. And it told as Down rallied to kick four without reply and level the game up.
In the 45th minute, Danny Heavron tried a kick pass inside that would’ve had Bradley clean through had his weight not been shifting in the other direction but it took Derry another 17 minutes to find their target man again from play. Or to even try to.
If they had just sickened him with ball in that period while they had the extra man and the extra space, they would’ve seen off the Mourne men with little to no problems. But they didn’t.
The result was Bradley being sent out the pitch to pick up his own ball. Down, meanwhile, got back into the game.
In attack, the north Derry man was naturally devastating.
Ironically, he took the kickout off Thomas Mallon – and took it the whole way to the goals – for the match-winning play so his deeper role wasn’t exactly without merit but when he was going at the Down backline and not drifting out or recycling play, he was causing all sorts of havoc.
Monaghan’s Conor McManus gave a master class against Cavan on how to win games with limited ball and Bradley could’ve had a bigger impact had his side continued to use him.
But they weren’t going direct enough.
Derry won’t always find Bradley first time but they need to look for him. Even with their short game, he is lightning fast, he’s as strong as a bull and as ignorant as you like so he will be on for a hand pass, too. When they attack, they must go through Bradley.
Half back Kevin Johnston was the man of the match in Celtic Park and, whilst it was mostly for his relentless forages forward, a lot of it was helped because he was the main supply line to Derry’s tidal wave.
Johnston looked for Bradley continuously and, let’s face it, any sort of ball in his direction is a worthwhile venture – it needn’t even be good. He picked out the full forward and the full forward drew in the numbers.
But that didn’t seem to bother him much either.
The best way of beating the blanket defence. Bradley ithttps://t.co/YrnM7dHeiN#GAA
— Conán Doherty (@ConanDoherty) June 7, 2015
Derry face Donegal or Armagh next. Space will be even more limited. Bradley will be under even more scrutiny.
But Brian McIver must ensure that his side don’t let him down.
He must ensure that, whatever way they’re attacking, they’re still looking for Bradley. Because he is the game-changer. He could be the difference.
