David Clifford: 'It was a great year'
Kerry's David Clifford with his PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Year Award. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
By Cian O'Connell
GAA.ie sat down with 2025 GAA/GPA PwC Footballer of the Year, David Clifford.
Q: Congratulations David, it has been a special year for Kerry and yourself?
David Clifford: Definitely, it has been a strange year in a sense. We thought we were going well, and we got rocked back on our heels. To be able to pick it back up for the final three games was special, just the way it all came together. And, definitely, personally, it was a great year, too.
Q: From the start of the year, in the league, Kerry were going well, and when you entered the action, it went nicely straightway. How relevant was the league campaign after a disappointing finish to the 2024 championship?
DC: We'd no other choice, but to put a massive focus on the league because we had been poor the year before and we'd been beaten by Armagh in that semi-final. So, naturally, you then put a lot of focus on the league. Winning the league isn't something you set out to do, it is about putting down a few performance markers. Even, if you just blood a few new players or even get players back into form. It was important for that. The fact that we ended up winning it, while it wasn't massive, maybe the fact you got to experience a game at Croke Park with the new rules in the league final, that was a nice bonus.
Q: Obviously, Jack was still there as manager, but how much was the dynamic changed with a new backroom team with different perspectives and ideas?
DC: Absolutely, and it isn't a slight on the previous backroom by any means because we were lucky enough to win an All-Ireland with them too. It brought a great freshness to the whole thing. People couldn't wait to get back, to hear and see what was going on at training. What way were we going to be playing? What way were we going to be approaching the whole thing? It was massively refreshing, and we were delighted to get the lads we did. We're thankful we get to keep on to the lads we have, too.
David Clifford pictured with his son Ógie following the All-Ireland SFC Final. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Q: The new rules were always going to be scrutinised in 2025, as a forward, your assessment of how the first year has gone?
DC: I'd have nothing, but positive things to say. There would be something wrong if I was saying anything negative about it after the way the year went for us. I thought it brought a great freshness to the game; it brought people back talking about and watching the game. It doesn't leave a whole pile of scope for messing or delaying games or anything like that. Teams go for it. Teams have a crack off it. That is all we want to see, really, in the game.
Q: Did it help the enjoyment factor? As a player, how important is that as it is a commitment at senior inter-county? When the game is more dynamic is that a help?
DC: Exactly. Probably when you see it this year, maybe you realise you actually weren't enjoying it as much as you thought the previous years, if that makes sense. When you were in amongst it in the old rules, you don't really know any different, so you don't think any different. Seeing the new rules and looking back, you're probably saying this is a bit more enjoyable, alright, definitely.
Q: At the end of 2024 you had a bit more of a break having been on the road so long with the club and East Kerry after the senior inter-county action finished. Was that a help at the start of this year, even missing a few rounds of the league, or is too much made out of that?
DC: I think, definitely, it was a help. Obviously, we'd been busy in previous years with Fossa and stuff like that, which was great. I suppose Jack and myself sat down at the end of 2024, we laid it all out on the table, really as to why it didn't go well for Kerry and for me, too. I wouldn't have had a great year for the most part. So, we decided a break was the best thing, but also it gave a chance for seven or eight weeks to do proper training because I hadn't got much of a chance to have a pre-season or to change my body much in the past few seasons because of all the club games. That was a help alright.
David Clifford celebrates following a score in the All-Ireland SFC Final. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Q: When Kerry got to Croke Park, the team took off. The setback in Tullamore happened, but you regrouped, got the win to get to Croke Park. You just seemed primed for the Croke Park rounds?
DC: Maybe the scientific people in the group, the S&Cs and stuff would tell you we were primed for that, but as players you don't really know. All we know is that we get a massive boost when there is a Croke Park game coming up. It is where we want to play, especially when we're generally at Croke Park when the weather is good and the weather is turning good. You want to play football in those conditions. There is probably a more scientific reason for it, but as a player it is the excitement level you feel when you know there is a Croke Park game coming up.
Q: The final went so well with Paudie influential, too? You were so clinical on that day, the mind frame you get into for that because Donegal bring different challenges, your recollections of that afternoon?
DC: We had a game plan that we'd decided on and put a massive amount of time into. That brought a sense of calm because we'd massive confidence in the game plan. It was just about going out, executing it, then. Sometimes you're not sure about how a game is going to go or how a game plan is going to look and that can lead to shakiness in a game. Thankfully, we were all very clear on the game plan, we all had a hand in the game plan. It was just about executing it. That might've taken a bit of the pressure off.
David Clifford in action during the All-Ireland SFC Final. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Q: Kieran Donaghy being added to the backroom set-up, a man you know well?
DC: I was lucky enough to play alongside him in my first year. Then, I had him as a coach with IT Tralee. We're looking forward to working with him. Obviously, being a Kerryman and the career he had with Kerry, he was a massive hero for all of us as players. We're delighted to have him on board.
Q: During the year, Jack spoke about the teachers on the panel, who give up their time training teams in schools. How important is passing that appreciation for the game on to the next generation?
DC: Most of us are involved with underage or school teams. That comes with the guidance we got. I know I'd have got massive guidance and help from my own time in St Brendan's. That would have shaped me a lot as a footballer. You're just conscious of giving that time back. Any chance you get to help the younger generation, you're always going to take that.
Q: That can only bode well for the future of Kerry football?
DC: Massively. In Kerry, we've been lucky enough to have the Sem as successful as they've been. Even the schools in Tralee, Kenmare, and Dingle, around the county, are all very strong at the moment. Playing that school football is probably a step up from the club, particularly at underage level. It gives you a chance to see who're the top players. Every club has top players, but when you've players that can play well on those U15 or U17 or Corn Uí Mhuirí competitions, it is a good marker for what is coming down the track with Kerry minor teams, stuff like that.
