Conor Bradley is the new darling of Anfield, but he risked it all for a game of Gaelic football
Liverpool encouraged Bradley’s diverse sporting childhood, recognising the physical, psychological and social benefits of playing a range of games. The only stipulation that the club made to CBS was that Bradley should go easy on the typical Gaelic football upper-body weights programme in his last year. His journey is another case study of the virtues of children not specialising prematurely.
Devine, from Aghyaran, recalls Liverpool scouts watching Bradley in an under-14s match for Aghyaran in Omagh. “They said that they couldn’t believe the physicality of it. I think that really did help Conor. If he could manage that, he could manage anything.”
When Devine sees Bradley playing for Liverpool now, he catches a glimpse of him as he was on the GAA pitch.
“Up and down the pitch, strong and fearless. No matter who he was playing, big or small, he played the same way.
“He benefited the team so much in midfield because he could cover off the back, and go up and help the forwards. That’s his game. You see that now with Liverpool. He’s up and down the wing, doing everything.”
As a boy, Bradley became Northern Ireland’s primary school cross-country champion. At CBS, Bradley once won the school 100 metres finals and 800m on the same day.
In his last year at school, on a day off, Bradley was even roped in to referee GAA and football for younger boys. “He didn’t have to, but he did,” McNabb says.
Humility despite success
Bradley’s day-to-day demeanour at CBS gave no hint of the success that he enjoyed for the Liverpool and Northern Ireland youth sides.
“The way he walked about at school, you would have had no idea. No idea,” Dixon recalls. “He was humble.”
In autumn 2016, Bradley missed a few days of school to play in an under-14 tournament for Liverpool in Hamburg. When he returned, Dixon asked Bradley how the competition had gone. “Yeah, it went well,” Bradley said, before switching the conversation to school work. A couple of days later, Dixon learnt that Bradley had been named player of the tournament.
Sporting commitments meant that Bradley did much of his homework in the car between fixtures, and on the 40-minute drive between home and school. Even while on Liverpool trips, Bradley submitted assignments and dialled in for classes on Zoom from overseas tours.
Bradley’s academic demands intensified when, after consulting his mother, he skipped the pre-penultimate year before GCSEs. Missing year 10 in Northern Ireland allowed Bradley to start at Liverpool a year earlier, because players can only sign after taking their GCSEs.
McNabb recalls discussing Bradley’s GCSE options. “The first one he mentioned was Home Economics. That threw me. He said: ‘When I go away, I’ll learn how to cook a few basic meals.’ The second thing he said: ‘There’s financial management involved.’ I thought: ‘His head is screwed on.’”
The accelerated programme meant that Bradley took extra classes in maths, English and science after school. Those who gave him extra one-on-one lessons were jokingly referred to as the ‘Conor Bradley teachers’.
“There would be deep affection among the staff for Conor,” says Conor McFlynn. “He would have a good sense of responsibility towards school. If it had to be done, it had to be done.” Bradley passed all his GCSEs.
