How can you defend against that?
Some players just have it all. The speed, the strength, the brains, the spacial awareness, the skill. David Clifford has it all and he showed every one of Gaelic football’s great skills and qualities off on Sunday afternoon down in Tralee.
Clifford didn’t start well in the Kerry semi-final between Dingle and East Kerry. He kicked a couple of wides early on, he was involved in a little bit of controversy and then he missed a penalty.
A David Clifford elbow off the ball after he scores starts a full schmoozle, bet the referee does nothing
— CLG Daingean Uà Chúis (@DingleGAA) October 14, 2018
So uncharacteristically, he dragged the penalty wide.
A David Clifford missed penalty for East Kerry. They trail 0-5 to 0-3 after 19 mins to Dingle #GAA pic.twitter.com/aEFo8fOrz2
— Donal Barry (@BarryDonal) October 14, 2018
That was 19 minutes into the game and though many players, especially inside forwards, might drop the head after a rocky start, Clifford isn’t like the rest of them.
Bouncebackabilty is one of the most important qualities in a footballer. It’s all well and good when you’re flying high, but when the blow comes, it’s imperative that a player keeps the head up and stays looking for the ball.
David Clifford would go onto score 2-5 from that penalty miss onward as he almost single-handedly dragged the district outfit to the final.
His two goals were special. For the first one, he showed some bravery as he hung himself up in the air, leaving himself wide open to get absolutely cleaned out of it by the goalkeeper.
Where most lads would should their eyes, the most talented young player in the country kept his eyes on the ball and he deceived the keeper and two defenders.
For his second goal, he displayed that trademark calm and nonchalance that only a player operating two steps ahead of everybody else could.
But leaving Austin Stack Park, they were all talking about Clifford’s final contribution. The last point, the one he kicked off his less favoured foot off the back foot and despite being closed down by half the Dingle back line.
I cannot get David Clifford's final point out of my head – he was closed down -about 40 metres out and he just unleashed a skyscraper as he was felled backwards – in basketball it would be a fade away jumper from down town – Michael Jordanesque #Miraculouspoint @Kerry_Official
— Mortimer Murphy (@MortimerMurphy1) October 14, 2018
You can watch all of his scores from the game here, but that late, great white flag shows this man at his very best.
Watch it here from TG4’s highlights from 0.23.
Sárimirt ón bhfear seo. 2-4 ag David Clifford. @EastKerryGAA @Kerry_Official @GAA_BEO @ballsdotie @The42GAA pic.twitter.com/1ywylBGEhv
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) October 16, 2018
David Clifford stuff.
