By John Harrington

It was difficult not to be surprised by just how big an impact Paudie Clifford made in his debut season for the Kerry footballers in 2021.

It’s very rare for a player to instantly look so comfortable at the highest level, but the man himself never felt he was doing anything ahead of schedule.

In fact, the sheer drive he displays on the pitch probably has something to do with the fact he feels like he is making up for lost time as far as his Kerry career is concerned.

For some time before he was given his chance to shine he felt he had something to offer, and seeing his younger brother David blossom on the big stage only made him more determined to make the grade too.

“It probably gave me belief that I could, I was thinking ‘If he’s able to do that, I can play at a similar level’”, said Clifford at the launch of Lidl Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé 2022 which takes place this weekend (February 25-27).

“Deep down I always kind of thought I had a chance (of playing with Kerry) but yeah, there would have been days all right when I thought probably that I’d stop kind of pursuing trying to play for Kerry. But deep down I always thought I had a small chance.

“I felt that if I could get in there, that I could let my football do the talking. I had that in the back of my mind.”

It’s perhaps apt that David’s instant impact with the Kerry footballers lit a fire under his older brother because the two have always pushed each other hard to be the best they can be.

There’s two years between them and there was never any quarter taken or given when a ball was thrown in between them. It helped too that their parents were always hugely supportive of their sporting ambitions.

“My Mam and Dad are massive football fans, go to every game,” says Clifford.

“Every club game, anything that’s on. We were always just playing out the side of our house. We have a decent enough size of a lawn, and a wall, and a goal so just playing against each other for years. That’s how it all started. It being so competitive helped.

“You’re at an advantage there having a brother who is similar enough in age and you can be challenging each other. Making up different kind of games to play against each other.

“When David was playing under-12 or under-14, he would have been putting up massive scores, that was probably when people started to take notice and we started to realise that he was going to be fairly good.

“We’ve always been different players. We have different skills, different things that we’re good at. That would have never been a problem because we’ve always been different players. I’ve always played a bit more out the field than him.”

The experience of playing Sigerson Cup football under the tutelage of Billy Morgan and Tomás Ó Sé in UCC brought the older Clifford brother on a lot, and he feels too that his big breakthrough last year was also made possible because he matured physically.

“It would have been my body developed, I did a lot of gym work, did a lot of speed work as well,” he said.

“That was probably the big thing, my body developed. I kind of always had the football, I just had to develop my body and that’s probably what changed, yeah.”

So far this year Clifford has been moving well and so are Kerry as a team. They really look like they have the bit between their teeth, but the Fossa club-man isn’t prepared to make any big predictions just yet.

“I wouldn’t say confident; we’re hopeful. We know how competitive it is. I have never seen Division 1 as competitive.

“There are going to be no easy games and there are going to be no easy games come the end of the championship either.”

The Lidl Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé 2022 takes place all across the Dingle Peninsula from the 25th to the 27th of February. 14 counties across the four provinces of Ireland will take part in the 33rd edition of the competition with 20 adult men’s and ladies club teams coming for a weekend of competitive football. Full details available on www.Paidiose.com.