By John Harrington

Kerry football legend, Jack O’Shea, has tipped rising Kingdom footballer, David Clifford, for greatness.

Clifford has been in sensational form this year for the Kerry minors, inspiring them to a fourth All-Ireland Final in a row.

O’Shea rates him as the best he’s ever seen at his age, which is some praise indeed considering the amount of fellow Kerry legends that O’Shea himself played with back in the day.

Clifford’s signature is coveted by a number of Australian Football League clubs, but O’Shea is confident that Clifford will remain in Kerry and go on to be a star for the county senior footballers.

“Oh yeah, I've no doubt that they will (hold on to him), I've no doubt that you'll see him playing senior next year,” said O’Shea yesterday in Croke Park at his induction into the GAA Museum Hall of Fame.

“I think he could play next Saturday, if I had the chance I'd play him! He's old enough, he's big enough, a phenomenal talent, probably the best I've ever seen at his age.

“And his attitude is very good. I've a good feeling that he won't go to Australia, even if he's offered to go I think he wants to stay in Ireland and play for Kerry.

“And for football in general I think he's a superstar in the making, providing he can health-wise keep himself right.

“I think that his ball-winning ability as a forward is immense, he can kick off both feet, the first three yards he makes that space.

“I don't know how you'd mark him. You could have four sweepers around him and I still think he (would get free).

“I just think he has a football brain and his vision, he has everything. He's not selfish, he lets it go to the other fellahs. So he's a real find for the future.”

Clifford is barred from playing senior inter-county football because he’s still a minor, but O’Shea is adamant he’s already a good enough player to slot straight into Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s team were he allowed to do so.

Without a doubt,” says O’Shea. “I played in an All-Ireland semi-final against Brian Mullins when I was 18 and a half.

“Age didn't matter. Matt Connor started when he was just off Minor as well. They were different times.

“Physical-wise he is big enough and if he had the opportunity, I've no doubt Kerry would have played them.

“David Clifford can look after himself. He's big and strong, he has a big advantage in that way and I'm looking forward to watching him for the next 10 years.”

O’Shea would love if Kerry could have Clifford as an option for Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final replay against Mayo because he’s expecting another ferociously tight encounter.

He believes Kerry have more room for improvement from the drawn match, but is very wary of the challenge that Mayo will pose again.

“Hopefully Kerry, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mayo won,” said O’Shea. “It will go to the wire with only a couple of points in it at the end. It could even go to extra time again.

“Kerry have to improve more, I think. I thought all the Mayo players played well the last day. If you go through their team, the majority of them played really well. On the Kerry side I don’t think many of them played anywhere near their best.

“They weren’t allowed. Mayo were just the better team; they adapted to the conditions very well and the four or five older players on the pitch were in line for Man of the Match. Experience won out in those conditions.

“Anything can happen and if it’s a good, dry day it’ll probably be a different kind of game.”

One thing that O’Shea doesn’t expect to change is Mayo’s strategy of marking Kerry danger-man Kieran Donaghy with Aidan O’Shea.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I think a lot of things mightn’t change. Kieran Donaghy is doing very well and he did very well the last day. People say that Aidan O’Shea might be better out the field but Mayo played very well up front.

“If Aidan O’Shea had been up front, would the ball be going in as quick into Andy Moran and the rest of the full-forward line? That’s a question.

“I think he did a job, to a degree. But I think Donaghy did really well, as well. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he was still at full-back.

“A full-forward is only as good as the ball coming into you. I think that is where Kerry had a problem the last day, there weren’t able to put enough pressure on the ball coming into Andy Moran.

“Likewise, the ball going into Donaghy, pressure has to be put on that. If the proper ball goes into a full-forward, the full-back has no chance, no matter who he is. If you had three Aidan O’Sheas there, it wouldn’t make a difference.

“He was always going to stop the aerial threat that Kerry might have had, but on the day, Kerry didn’t use that aerial threat. It wasn’t a day for the big high ball going in, and you could see a totally different thing the next day.”

As a multiple All-Star midfielder himself, O’Shea knows the position better than most.

He believes Jack Barry can make a vital difference for Kerry on Saturday if he starts in the engine-room, and claims the midfield battle won’t just decide this game but ultimately the destination of the Sam Maguire Cup.

“I think any of the four of them left can win it,” said O’Shea. “I basically think it’s how the midfield performs on the four teams, and I think they all have very good attacking half-back lines.

“I’ve been very impressed with Tyrone, they were very good in the Ulster final and they were very good the last day and very mechanical in the way they are working.

“Everybody knows what they have to do, they are going to take a lot of stopping and I think they are really going to put it up to Dublin. I think if Dublin can’t score from outside 35 yards, they will find it very hard to run up a good score against Tyrone.

“It will be a really tight contest and I think any of the four teams are capable of beating each other. It’s what team turns up on the day, what team performs to the best of their ability and the most numbers that play well on the day will win the All-Ireland.”

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