It looked like they were on the path to a rematch at the 2018 World Championships in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but Brady had a ankle injury prior to his semi-final match[2] and had to forfeit to Martin Mulkerrins.

The following year, Brady landed the prestigious Minor Singles title, defeating Dublin's Eoin Kennedy for the first time in a marathon final in Roscommon.

At home, he advanced to intermediate ranks and won the All Ireland the first time of asking, defeating Eoin Kennedy in the semi-final and Kerry's Dominick Lynch in the final in Ballaghedereen, Co Roscommon.

The following February, Brady again defeated Brad Alesi, this time in the final of the USHA Collegiates in Minneapolis, a tournament which draws the best college handballers in Ireland and North America and has come to be seen as a stepping stone to the professional ranks.

That autumn, Brady made it to the last four of the World Championship Open Singles in Chicago, losing a heartbreaking 11-8 tiebreaker to top American John Bike.

Their first tournament on the circuit was in Peoira, Illinois and the pair would travel to Sacramento, Dallas, Juarez, South Bend, Modesto and Las Vegas up to June 2002, by which point Brady was beginning to assert himself as the top Irish player and a coming force on the world scene.

In December 2002, two months after his 22nd birthday, he defeated top Californian Vince Munoz in the final of a pro stop in Milwaukee to become the first Irishman to win such an event, which was a massive milestone in the history of the sport and a turning point in Brady's career.

In 2004, Brady began the season with a career-best win over David Chapman, who is commonly regarded as the second-greatest player of all time and who at that point was the world number one, in the final of the Ultimate Handball Showdown in Seattle.

He followed up by claiming second, and another $10,000 cheque, to Chapman the following week in Alaska, but it would be 12 months before Brady finally became the first Irishman to win the US Nationals, the most prestigious tournament in American with a century of history behind it.