Very few players have to carry the mantle of being the face of Kerry football like David Clifford when they’re not winning All-Irelands
Very few players have to carry the mantle of being the face of Kerry football when they’re not winning All-IrelandsDavid Clifford in action against Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final victory. Above all else, Clifford is the face of Kerry football, with all the good and all the bad layered on to him whether he likes it or not. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/InphoSunday teatime, two weeks ago.
Promoting a Kerry For Sam poster in the Kerry Eye newspaper this week, Darran O’Sullivan implored the public not to be hanging out of the team in the lead-up to tomorrow. Mick O’Connell played for 18 years, making his last appearance as a sub in the 1974 Munster final defeat to Cork. Alongside him was 19-year-old Mikey Sheehy, lining out for just his second championship match.
And on the day the Gooch bowed out in the 2016 semi-final against the Dubs, Clifford had already scorched Kildare for eight points in the minor game a couple of hours earlier. A golden lineage, connecting back over 66 years of Kerry football. Which is what makes this such a fascinating weekend for Clifford watchers. One of two things will happen from here on out. Either Clifford’s lack of an All-Ireland medal will never be mentioned again or it will become the dominant narrative surrounding his career. When you’re as good as he is and when you’re from where he’s from, there’s no in-between.
Above all else, Clifford is the face of Kerry football, with all the good and all the bad layered on to him whether he likes it or not. When there was all that kerfuffle during the week about the Kerry County Board promoting their All-Ireland After Party, it was notable that they used just one player’s picture to sell their €20 tickets on Twitter.
“So there was enormous pressure on him to go and win it. And all the conversation was like, ‘It would be an awful shame for a player like him to not have an All-Ireland medal’. I think even the most animated Kerry-haters across the country wouldn’t like to see David Clifford go without winning one. But in the end, the joke was that Maurice got sick of waiting for us to come through and win him an All-Ireland medal so he went and won it on his own.
So much of Kerry’s collective need to win All-Irelands again was wrapped up in him that the longer they went without one, the more he got saddled with their failures. Ó Cinnéide was suspended and sitting in the stand for a league game against Donegal in late 1996 and saw first-hand the abuse he was starting to take.
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