Paudie Clifford says the Kerry players felt disrespected by outside perceptions they were a one-man team following his side’s victory over Donegal at Croke Park.
Clifford delivered a masterclass of creative play for Kerry on Sunday, orchestrating so much of their game in what he believes was this side’s first total 70-minute performance.
However, the jibes tossed in their direction after the round-robin defeat to Meath and loose talk of Kerry being overly reliant on his brother, David, helped fuel the fire within the Kingdom dressingroom this season.
“I suppose as a team we would feel disrespected because we were in three of the last four All-Irelands and we’ve won two of them now,” said Clifford.
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“And to be called a one-man team, when I see myself some of the work that our lads put in, the likes of Joe O’Connor, the turnovers, winning balls, scoring. Jason Foley, Brian Ó Beaglaioch, Gavin White, I’m only naming a few, I see the work that they put in every day.
“To be called a one-man team then, it’s nearly like it’s disrespectful. It’s kind of personal. I suppose that’s the angle we were coming from.
“We were close against Armagh last year and we’d be our own worst critics as well. We admitted that we’ve underperformed definitely as a team over some of the years. But I suppose with the work we put in and the players we have there, for them things to be said, it’s not nice to hear it.”
But the final whistle at Croke Park on Sunday must have sounded heavenly, because for the previous 70 minutes Kerry had produced a near-perfect display. They set the tempo from the opening seconds and were never behind at any stage of the All-Ireland decider.
“Even in 2022 when we won the All-Ireland, we played well against Dublin for maybe 45, 50 minutes, but didn’t finish well and probably fell over the line thanks to Seánie’s free,” recalled Clifford.
“I know there was the Armagh second half [this year] and we still played well in the first half because Armagh are a top team.
“Tyrone, we played well but it wasn’t an out-and-out 70-minute performance like that against a top, top team.”
And while he might not have agreed with the narrative around the team after the loss to Meath, Clifford does believe they were able to take a lot of learnings from that setback.
“Losing to Meath probably ended up being the best thing that ever happened to us. After the Meath game, we kind of realised that structurally in a few areas, we probably weren’t where we should be.
“Once we fixed that and once we saw Croke Park and started getting bodies back all the time, it led from there. Obviously including Cavan, we had four very hard games after Meath, but we’re just delighted we were able to come through them.”
Clifford was one of the Kerry players who struggled with injury at certain stages of the year but the Fossa man saved his best for last, delivering a dominant display against Donegal.
“I’m just delighted, I suppose. I had a good league but I just couldn’t get a hamstring injury right for a while,” he said.
“Even the lead-up to the Armagh game, I just didn’t feel great that week even. So I suppose I’m just delighted really that everything worked out for myself, and us obviously.
“We put a lot of work into it all year so I’m just delighted that it worked out for us. The lads deserve all the credit, to be fair to them.”
And while Clifford stresses the importance of the collective, nobody can deny his brother is one of the most special footballers to ever play the game.
“Obviously he’s a top, top player and one of the greatest players ever. I suppose the new rules have probably given him a new lease of life. But he’s had an unbelievable year, delighted for him.”
David’s two-pointer just on the struck of half-time was a defining moment in the match.
“It was massive,” said Paudie Clifford. “But at the same time, we had in the back of our heads that when Donegal played Monaghan, [Rory] Beggan scored a two-pointer just before the half and Donegal still came out strong, which they did.
“They came out strong in the second half and won a lot of ball around the middle and got it back to four.
“We just said we have to keep going and just keep being the aggressors, keep taking our scores when we could. Thankfully we did.”
