The Kerry talisman was a handy soccer player in his younger years.
Gaelic football star David Clifford has recalled his experiences of playing youth soccer as a teenager and coming up against two current Republic of Ireland internationals who he described as being on “a different level altogether”.
At 25-years-old, Clifford has already achieved almost everything there is to achieve as a sportsman.
The Killarney native already has one All-Ireland winners medal, eight Munster crowns, three All-Stars, and a footballer of the year award.
Many in Kerry will already be well aware that he was also something of a Virgil Van Dijk on the pitches of the Kingdom in his youth.
The man who many claim is the greatest Gaelic footballer living at the moment played as a centre-half for Killarney Celtic during his childhood and well into his teenage years.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent published at the weekend, the Fossa man recalled some of his experiences on the soccer pitch and weighed in on the debate as to whether or not he could have made it as a professional.
On two separate occasions, Clifford came up against two of Ireland’s current first-team players, and had a lot of positive things to say about their ability and talent as teenagers.
Clifford’s Killarney Celtic reached a school final against Dublin’s St. Jude’s who had a certain future Ipswich Town and Ireland centre-back Dara O’Shea in the lineup.
Then again at 15, he found himself in a a boys’ cup final against O’Shea’s now-Ireland teammate and West Bromwich Albion midfielder Jayson Molumby.
“[They] were streets ahead of us,” said Clifford. “[Molumby] just took the ball off their goalie, dribbled in and out through the whole of our team — goal. [O’Shea] was a different level altogether.
There were rumours of trials in England on the cards for the now PE teacher still based in Killarney, but Clifford was very quick to downplay any suggestion
“I played until I was 16 and if it was going to happen, it would’ve happened,” he added. “It wasn’t bad like, but it was probably the top level I was short of. I would have done the trials, definitely, and taken in the experience, but genuinely now, I’m not just [being modest], but I probably wasn’t good enough.”
It was around the age of 16 that Clifford packed away the shin guards and soccer ball for good as the Kerry minors came knocking on his door.
Considering Republic of Ireland have lost their first two games of their UEFA Nations League campaign and have put in some very underwhelming displays of late, new coach Heimir Hallgrímsson probably wouldn’t hesitate to throw a green jersey on David Clifford and get that magic left leg in action on the Aviva pitch.
