Pictured is 2023 Footballer of the Year and Kerry star David Clifford at SuperValu’s launch of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and its #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign. Sponsors of the Championship for a fifteenth consecutive season, SuperValu were joined by Gaelic Games role models and advocates from across the country in Croke Park today to highlight the role of GAA communities in making Ireland a more diverse, inclusive and welcoming country for all.
By John Harrington
Earlier this year the Kerry football team’s performance coach, Tony Griffin, described David Cliford as ‘Jordan-esque’ in terms of his attitude to try to continually better himself.
The Jordan he compared him to was basketball legend, Michael Jordan, whose mantra was that he could accept failure, but he could never accept not trying.
By his usually super-human standards Clifford had a poor day against Dublin in last year’s All-Ireland Final, kicking four wides and dropping another shot short, but he always kept showing for the ball, always kept trying to make the difference in a match of fine margins.
He was very self-critical of his own failings in the wake of Kerry’s defeat to Dublin that day, but he didn’t wallow in the disappointment for too long.
He finds perspective on both sides of the coin – he doesn’t want football to define him, and there’s always another opportunity to be better some other day as long as you keep trying.
“Look, you must try to move on from it as well because your life can be lived by whether you win or lose a game,” says Clifford.
“Because it's going to be a long auld career for you then really because you're going to have more losses than wins.
“So, as disappointing as it was, you must just plough on and get on with it.
“I suppose you're always trying to improve and get better. It's still football no matter how much preparation you've done and there are still so many other factors. It's not like darts or snooker where you're playing at the same target.
“You have a defender marking you, you've different defensive structures. So, look, it's hard to know. I don't exactly focus on anything too deeply because you have to try to switch off from it in one sense. I just try to improve and try to always get better and reach for consistency, that's the thing.
“You can totally overthink it, we're all guilty of that. That's why you need to try to be well settled off the field and have plenty going on off the field to try and be able to move away from it because it's very easy to start thinking about it all the time. And sure then there's no real enjoyment in it then.”
Kerry performance coach, Tony Griffin, sits with David Clifford after their defeat to Dublin in the 2023 All-Ireland SFC Final.
Michael Jordan isn’t the only sporting superstar that Clifford has been compared to. When you’re a generational talent it tends to go with the territory, but it’s not something he’s all that at ease about.
“There is uncomfortable nature to it,” he says. “From my parents I learned there was never any need to be cocky or appear arrogant. Why not try and be humble?
"That's probably the way it feels. Look, you don't want to be talking about yourself in that light. So you try to let it brush off you, and don't listen to it."
One of the newest recruits to the David Clifford fan-club is his own son Ógie, who has recently realised his father occasionally plays sport on TV, even if his celebrations aren’t as good as those of your average Premier League footballer.
“He's gone mad for it at the moment,” says Clifford with a smile. “He's wearing jersies and he loves it. He obviously doesn't be too happy when you go out to training or anything like that because he knows you're going to be gone for a couple of hours.
“Even just going down to watch the Fossa games at the weekend he loves coming along with me to watch them. He's great craic now at the moment.
“I suppose the fact that he's copying celebrations of the soccer players that he sees or whatever. He's getting to that age alright where you'd have an extra reason to go and play.”
David Clifford of Kerry with his son Ógie after the 2022 GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Kerry and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
What else is new in Clifford’s world? Well, you won’t be too surprised to hear he’s not giving much away about Kerry’s championship season beyond a quiet satisfaction with their win over Cork last weekend and a plan to continue taking it one match at a time.
Those matches are adding up and this is now his seventh championship season with just one All-Ireland medal to show for that considerable effort.
At the age of 25 he has plenty of time yet, but how would he look back on his career if he finished it with that solitary Celtic Cross?
“Tricky one!,” he says. “I suppose you would like to win the All-Ireland every year but that’s not the realities of it.
“As you get a bit older you probably realise you can’t be …like I said at the start…If I was to retire I’m not going to be going around about telling people I have no All-Ireland medal or one All-Ireland medal or however many, you know what I mean? You will live your life normally.
“We do everything in our power to try and win them. While they're great to win them and we do everything in our power to try to win them, you would just have to get over it (if he didn't win anotehr). Hopefully that won't be the case but we'll just have to wait and see.”