Kerry forward David Clifford pictured at the launch of Supervalu's #CommunityIncludesEveryone at Croke Park.
By Paul Keane
It became a familiar sight after games during Fossa's journey to All-Ireland club success last winter; David Clifford being mobbed by hoards of kids.
Most of them were chasing an autograph though some were just happy to stand next to perhaps the greatest player in Gaelic football right now.
The reigning Footballer of the Year and Kerry captain smiles when he looks back on it.
"It was great and people would be telling you about the different places they'd come from that day, the times they might have met you before or got your gloves at a game or something, it always brings a smile to your face," said Clifford at a promotion laid on by Championship sponsors SuperValu.
It can be difficult too though. Some days, the last thing Clifford may have wanted was to stand in the cold signing jersey after jersey.
"It's more that you can't say yes to everyone and do everything for people because you'd just get worn out," he said. "It's just trying to be as nice to the kids as you can in the short period of time because you're well aware of the fact that you're going to have to say no to some of them at different stages.
"Generally I try not to miss a recap on the game in the dressing-room, I'd never like to miss that. So you're trying to spend as much time with the kids without maybe missing that bit of a session."
It helps that Clifford enjoys being around young people. He is working as a PE teacher these days in his old school, St Brendan's in Killarney. Part of the gig is coaching the first year football team.
He plays various other sports with them too, like Olympic handball, badminton and even ultimate frisbee.
Kerry's David Clifford is getting ready for a Munster SFC Final against Clare. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
"We did bits of that when I was in college in Tralee myself, it's a good sport to be fair," he smiled.
Life is good then for the 24-year-old, father of one who helped himself to two points just last weekend in the Munster semi-final defeat of Tipperary. They will play Clare next and while the Munster Council has yet to set the venue for that May 7 encounter, Clifford knows it will be a tough encounter.
"I played in 2019 in Ennis," he said, referencing a game Kerry won by six points. "We've always had good battles with them. We've been lucky enough to get goals in a lot of those games coming down the stretch. We expect it to be a very tough task. We're well aware of the dangers that they bring."
On Kerry themselves, Clifford said one of the All-Ireland holders' big challenges at the moment is to improve their 'shooting efficiency'. They scored 25 points against Tipperary last weekend though didn't score any goals. Plenty of scope for improvement then on the green flag front. He agreed that it makes a change from commentators focusing on their apparent defensive weaknesses in recent years.
"We would have put a big focus on our defensive structure over the last few years," said Clifford. "Even moreso, putting confidence into the backs so that they realise how good they are, and being able to defend in one versus one situations, how good they are at that. Our defence is our backbone and they've become nearly our biggest attacking threat as well."
Considering that long winter he had with Fossa, fatigue could be an issue for Clifford though he insisted he feels fresh and that he is excited about the summer ahead. He said Kerry's recent warm weather training camp in Portugal was hugely beneficial.
"To be able to spend that much time together as a group, it was very enjoyable," said Clifford. "Obviously very tough on the body and stuff like that, having to do so many sessions on consecutive days is probably something you wouldn't be used to. But no, very, very enjoyable and it was a chance for us to spend a bit of time together and to just slow things down a small bit and even spend more time on the tactical side of the game and stuff like that."
The hope around Kerry is that it'll be another long All-Ireland campaign though no-one is quite sure how the new round robin series of games after the provincial competition will go.
"I like the sound of it," said Clifford. "I would say that our approach to it doesn't change much to, say, the old Super 8s approach where you're going out to try to win Munster and then you're going to have three good games, similar to the Super 8s; one at home, one away and one at a neutral venue.
"So I suppose whatever teams do end up reaching a quarter-final, you're going to be well road tested and you're going to be in a very strong position. Yeah, I think overall I'm really looking forward to it and it seems very positive."
