Everything must be done to keep David
CON O’CALLAGHAN is my Young Player of the Year but David Clifford, his closest rival, could have pipped him. In two years in minor football, no one has produced a series of performances like this guy at 16-17 years of age. Remarkable. The onus now is on the Kerry county board to hold on to this special talent but rumours continue to circulate around him. The Aussie Rules official account tweeted about him after Kerry’s All-ireland final win over Derry. That was wrong, I didn’t like to see that. But the fact is that this guy will go, he will earn €100,000 a year unless there’s something worthwhile
THIS latest All-ireland final defeat was hard on Mayo. They don’t want my sympathy or anyone else’s. But you only get so many chances to win an All-ireland and they’ve had more opportunities than 15 counties collectively will have. Mayo just don’t know how to win on the big day – end of story.
here for him. That means a scholarship, accommodation, a car. He simply has to be kept here because he could be Diarmuid Connolly and Bernard Brogan wrapped up in one. To score 4-4 in an All-ireland final, to dismantle what had been up until Sunday a very good Derry defence, was Roy of the Rovers stuff. But let’s keep his feet grounded because even for Clifford, the step up to senior level is harder than any young player understands. He has to be integrated into a group of young players by Eamonn Fitzmaurice in Kerry, who must now make room for them by getting rid of six players. It has to happen for Kerry to be successful again.