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In his first season as Antrim manager Liam Bradley led the team to promotion to Division Three.
On Sunday he takes his team to Ballybofey and an Ulster senior championship quarter-final against Donegal.
As so often happens these days the odds are heavily stacked against the Saffrons, but that won’t deter the big Glenullin man who seems to thrive on defying the odds.
When Jody Gormley stepped down as Antrim boss, he had no hesitiation in stepping into the breach.
Not everyone would have agreed with him, but he insisted the potential was there.
“Provided the work and commitment is there I believe Antrim football can move forward.
“But I’m under no illusions about the work that lies ahead.”
Bradley, a man renowned for wearing his heart on his sleeve, is the father of Derry stars Paddy and Eoin.
Two seasons ago he led his club Glenullin to a first Derry senior championship in 22 years.
Bradley hails from a family with a strong footballing background.
Two of his uncles, James and Paddy Rafferty, played for Derry and when he won the Derry championship as a player in 1985, five of his brothers also figured on the team.
His brother Gabriel, as resolute a defender as ever pulled on a jersey, won two Ulster championship medals with the Oak Leaf county in successive years, 1975 and 1976.
Knowing Liam Bradley you can rest assured there’s little he doesn’t know about Donegal by this stage. They didn’t have an impressive league under new boss John Joe Doherty and paid the price by suffering the ignominy of relegation to Division Two.
Doherty though has put behind him the controversy surrounding his appointment as manager.
He was a central figure in Donegal’s historic All Ireland success of 1992 and the hope in the county is that some of that success will rub off on the current senior side.
Thirty four year old Brian Roper is expected to start for Donegal and despite the passing years is still one of the most accurate and consistent forwards in the country.
It’s still something of a mystery how he managed to miss out on inter pro honours over the course of a very distinguished career.
It has to be a real concern for manager Doherty though that the league didn’t show up any new or exciting talent.
That being the case he will again be relying heavily on experience with Barry Monaghan most likely centre half back with Kevin Cassidy at half.
The midfield pairing of Neilly Gallagher and Brendan Boyle is a formidable enough partnership while the attack is backboned by Michael Hegarty, Christy Toye, Ciaran Bonner and Michael Murphy.
