Clifford hopes O'Connor stays on as Kerry manager
PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for July in football, David Clifford of Kerry, with his award at PwC offices in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
David Clifford hopes that Jack O’Connor stays on as Kerry senior football team manager.
In the immediate aftermath of Kerry’s All-Ireland Final win over Donegal, O’Connor suggested he “might be passing the baton onto somebody else”.
But Kerry GAA Chairperson, Patrick Osullivan, has since said he believes that O’Connor will stay on for a fifth season in what’s his third spin as Kerry manager.
Clifford, named as the PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Month for July today, certainly hopes so.
"It would be great if we could keep it the same way it was for last year," said Clifford.
"I thought we had a brilliant set-up so hopefully they’ll figure things out."
This year O’Connor shook up his backroom team by bringing Cian O’Neill in as team coach and Clifford hailed the impact made by the Kildare native.
“He was brilliant,” said Clifford. “He was a fresh voice. He ran the training sessions. Just good. Nice, forward thinking. The fact that there were the new rules, everything was fresh.
“It was massively enjoyable. I thought we responded well to each other as a group. I thought Cian got on well with the group and I thought we got on well with him. He was brilliant.”
When Clifford looks back on Kerry’s All-Ireland winning campaign the nine-point defeat to Meath stands out as a major watershed moment.
The players felt they had let everyone down, and resolved to make amends.
“We were disappointed. We were miles off it in terms of physicality and aggression. It just felt like we were flat coming into the game. We let people down. We let our management down, we let the Kerry supporters down. So we were disappointed.
“But we felt that we were better than that and we wanted to show that. It felt like we didn't deserve to have a second chance but we had the home game against Cavan the following week so it wasn't the end of the world.
“The fact it was week on week we didn't have much time to reflect so you couldn't feel sorry for yourself. We obviously had a couple of things to figure out and it was great to have a home game the following week.”
Kerry’s season took off in spectacular fashion as they beat Cavan by nine points, Armagh by eight points, and Tyrone by six in the All-Ireland semi-final.
They saved the best for last, a coruscating display of attacking football in the All-Ireland Final that blew Donegal away as the Kingdom came out on top by 10 points.
Kerry manager Jack O'Connor and David Clifford celebrate after their side's victory in the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kerry and Donegal at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
The sweetest day yet of Clifford’s career?
“It was right up there,” he says. “Particularly the first half, it felt like anything that could go right went right for us. So that was nice.
“Yeah, it was satisfying. Everyone wants to play well in the final and the fact that we saved our best performance for the final was very nice.”
It also laid to rest the ghosts of the 2023 All-Ireland Final defeat to Dublin when Clifford shouldered much of the blame for the loss for kicking four wides and dropping another shot short.
Did that match haunt him for a long time?
“I suppose it did,” he says. “The following year after that in '24 I didn't have a great year either. Then you just have to make a decision that...not that you're feeling sorry for yourself but you're looking back on the '23 final and wishing that it went better.
“You just have to move on and try to right the wrongs and prove to yourself that you're not going to be defined by that game.”