Clifford not fazed by being centre of attention
DAVID CLIFFORD hardly needs telling he can draw a crowd. The final whistle at League games this spring were as much about providing a cue for a flash mob as for the game to end.
The throw-in for the start of Kerry’s sixth round game against Armagh at the Athletic Grounds had to be delayed because of the unexpected lastminute footfall and no one had to guess what was behind the late rush.
He may not have started the game, but the promise that he would make an entrance at some stage was enough of a hook to keep the turnstiles clicking. When it was all over, he hardly moved an inch before he was swallowed up by an orangeclad invasion of selfie-seeking youngsters.
Mind, these days, he does not have to wait for the final whistle to find himself the focus of a mob, because the first whistle tends to serve as a signal for a different kind of crowd to gather round him.
Cork offered up a sign of what is to come when they unveiled a defensive structure last weekend that was constructed almost entirely in his honour.
Seán Powter swept in front to ensure Kevin Flahive could step up to an aggressive man-marking job on him, while Ian Maguire filled a hole to track runners from deep in order to minimise any threat that the structure around Clifford would loosen. Clifford had wreaked havoc throughout the League campaign, putting his name to 5-28. He put on a stunning show in the final where, one-on-one with Mayo’s Pádraig O’Hora, he left a trail of stardust on his way to shooting 1-6. Cork’s caution, therefore, was easily understood.
And it worked, the Fossa genius limited to a single point from play which could be an early portent of what is to come.
If it is, though, he hardly gives the impression of a man who will be fazed by it.
‘That is something we have probably started to come across and will continue to come across so it is about finding solutions to it; it is about having as many scoring threats as we have and they can’t double mark everyone,’ admitted Clifford, speaking yesterday as an ambassador for SuperValu, sponsors of the All-Ireland Championship.
‘It is obviously tricky and that brings its challenges but trying to find ways around it is enjoyable, too.
‘I don’t think it particularly matters whether any individual does well or gets on the ball or whatever once we get over the line and we hit the performance markers that we have laid out.
‘Getting a performance is probably more important than an individual performance for me anyway and it probably hasn’t always been that way.’
That sense of Zen in defiance of a construct designed to frustrate can be taken either that the supremely gifted relish a challenge or that the Kingdom’s boy wonder is now very much a man.
It may be both, but the latter is rooted in fact and family. Last summer, he became a father for the first time and with it has come a new sense of perspective.
‘My outlook on football has probably changed,’ he admits.
‘It feels like it’s everything and we put everything we have into it but look, I think health and family and things like that probably take more priority. Overall, it’s massively enjoyable, there’s great fun attached to it.
‘Ogie doesn’t tend to be too worried about whether we won or not, so that’s a nice thing in fairness.’
And as well as gaining a son to provide perspective, since last year he also has a brother for a county team-mate.
Older sibling Paudie’s rookie season in 2021 was such a success that both of them ended up as All-Stars, only the third time in the 50-year history of the awards hat a pair of brothers ended up in the forward line following in the footsteps of Donegal’s Martin and James McHugh (1992) and Dublin’s Alan and Bernard Brogan (2011).
Given the immediate impact he had on the team, it seems strange that he had to wait until he was 24 to make the breakthrough.
‘ He could have been in a year or two earlier but I don’t think he himself was taking it too seriously.
‘He played a lot of soccer and stuff, he was doing other things but as soon as he put his head down and decided he wanted to play for Kerry, it kind of all stemmed from playing in the Sigerson Cup and then he played a year at junior.
‘Could he have been in one year earlier?
‘Possibly, yeah,’ said Clifford, who admits that Paudie’s presence in the squad has helped his own game.
‘He is generally assisting me so that is handy for me. But we have played so much football together and we talk about it a lot so it is only natural we would have a good relationship.’