Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THIS DAVID BECOMING A GOLIATH Clifford dealing with hype & expectation
IF 2018 told us anything about David Clifford, it’s that the hype was certainly justified.
After a sensational underage career, culminating in his 4-4 tally in last year’s All-ireland minor final against Derry, greater anticipation surrounded Clifford’s graduation to Kerry senior ranks than arguably any of those who preceded him in the county’s rich history.
While Clifford didn’t have a stellar League campaign, he found his feet by the time the Championship rolled around.
His 3-15 from play made him the second highest scorer over the summer, six points short of Dublin’s Ciaran Kilkenny, who played two games more.
Apart from his obvious talent, what also allowed Clifford to go straight into senior inter-county football were his physical attributes, yet that side of the game was still the one which he found most testing.
“You have a bit less time on the ball and when you’re getting hits they’re coming a bit faster and a bit stronger. That was the tough side of it,” he says.
In dealing with the expectation that surrounded him, Clifford said: “There are loads of fellows out there, be it my friends and people in the club who would bring you back down to earth straight away if they thought you were getting too big-headed.
“You try and avoid the hype and that is what I tend to do.”
There was no surprise when Clifford was named on the PWC All-stars team, which returns from its tour of Philadelphia today, making him the first teenager to be selected since fellow countyman Colm Cooper in 2002.
“I would have met him [Cooper] a few times briefly alright. I totally idolised him growing up and still do and it is more a case of trying to imitate a lot of the things he did when he played for Kerry. It is great to have idols like.
“The player I would really have looked up to was Armagh’s Jamie Clarke. He is just very classy. “I would have remembered certain things he would have done on the field and then I used to try and do them. He had so much stylishness in his play that I always admired it.” Fitzmaurice departed the job under something of a cloud last August after the win over Kildare, which wasn’t enough to preserve their interest in the Championship, and cited the negativity which surrounded his position as something that could have had a crippling effect on emerging talents like Clifford if he had stayed on.
“I will be forever thankful to Eamonn for giving me the chance,” says the 19-year-old.
“His professionalism is something to behold, it is ridiculous in that every single minor little detail was covered. He was unbelievable.”