Derry boss confirms Bradley return

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• Derry manager John Brennan speaks to RTÉ's Brian Carthy about the return from injury of Paddy and Eoin Bradley.

Derry football manager John Brennan has confirmed that star forward Paddy Bradley will return to action on Saturday night during the McKenna Cup meeting with UUJ at Celtic Park.

Brennan has also expressed optimism that Paddy’s brother Eoin, who also suffered a cruciate injury last season, will be back to full fitness around Easter.

Bradley, however, will have to be content to start from the bench as his manager confirmed to RTÉ’s Brian Carthy that he will be looking to slowly rebuild the player’s confidence following a nine month lay-off. Bradley injured his cruciate ligament playing for his club Glenullin against Bellaghy in April 2011.

"I'm insisting that Paddy plays a part in this game (against UUJ). He will not be starting but I want Paddy to partake for the simple reason that he needs the confidence. He needs to get out there and get a good tackle inflicted on him to restore his confidence,' said Brennan.

"Everyone is looking forward to Paddy getting back because they all felt sorry for him, but you can't feel sorrow for individual players because injuries like this happen every day. You hear about Limerick players, Kerry players... we all have these problems.

"A player like Paddy will draw a crowd and he is inspirational to the rest of the team.

"We are also being optimistic about Eoin. I spoke to the medical people last night and they were talking about (a return at) Easter. If that were the case it would be great to have both lads back, but Eoin has a lot of hard work to do.

"Eoin has to work as hard as Paddy has done. Paddy is an example to other players with an injury when you consider the amount of work he has put in, in his own time and at his own expense. He is a credit to himself and a credit to other players."