Paudie Clifford savours the destination after long journey
SCARS OF BATTLE: Paudie Clifford and his teammates during the homecoming celebrations of the All-Ireland Senior Football Champions Kerry in Tralee, Kerry. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
The last time Paudie Clifford got the better of Galway in an All-Ireland final, before last Sunday that is, he was a Kerry junior footballer.
That was four years ago, his first-half goal in the Ennis decider of 2018 ultimately separating the teams and securing the fourth leg of a junior five-in-a-row for Kerry.
A fortnight earlier, Clifford scored 1-3 in the junior semi-final defeat of Kildare, prompting manager Jimmy Keane to state that in talent terms, there was no discernible gap between the two Cliffords, even if sibling David was already a senior star.
"I do really believe that," said Keane at the time. "Maybe David got more high profile recognition through the minors with Kerry. He's been seen so much on television and stuff like that whereas Paudie would have maybe been a late developer.
"Paudie, at David's age, wouldn't have had that size, he wouldn't have been physically as big. It's only now that Paudie is beginning to come out and play the football that he can, since he's got physically stronger. He's able to take the tackles."
Fast forward to the present and Clifford the elder is an established senior now himself, closing in on his second All-Star award and, crucially, an All-Ireland senior medallist.
Having been overlooked at minor and U-21 level, and farmed off to the juniors for a couple of years, you could describe it as a victory for hard work and patience.
"Yeah, it is, that's probably a good way to describe it," nodded Clifford. "It's been a lot of hard work, a lot of years of not being picked and yeah, a lot of failures along the way. But it feels good now, yeah.
"He (David) was always a big help in fairness and I always enjoyed playing with my club, so that was what kept me going.
"When I played with my club, I loved it and we had great craic, craic after games and craic after training.
"So there was never any question of anything like, 'Oh, you're not going to play football any more'. All I had to do was play well, keep doing my thing and just hope that maybe I would get called up."
East Kerry's 2019 county championship win, their first in 20 years, helped Clifford's cause. The following season they retained the title.
"They were the key because they put me on the map," acknowledged Clifford. "Because you were marking some of the backs in county championship games that were playing for us (Kerry), and I was doing relatively well.
"So you're getting more belief and obviously the management can see that too so yeah, they were the main things that counted."
On Sunday evening, RTÉ's Sunday Game panel included both Cliffords in their Team of the Year selection, Paudie at number 10 and David ahead of him in the right corner. They both won All-Stars last year.
Their games, of course, are chalk and cheese. While David is constantly compared to Maurice Fitzgerald, Andy Moran was on the money last year when he suggested that Paudie is more in the Paul Galvin mould.
As if to underline his thirst for a firefight, Paudie's two points against Galway on Sunday came in the second-half when the need was greatest. The same against Dublin.
"Whoever I'm marking, I just kind of think, 'Keep wearing them down'," he said. "In the first-half, it was tight and Galway got bodies back, and they got them back fast and there just wasn't much space.
"I just had to keep at it and often the games do open up more in the second-half, when bodies are getting a bit tired, and teams are bringing on subs who mightn't be quite as tuned into the game plan as the starters."
Just two and a half years older than David, Paudie has time on his side to add to his medals haul.
"Yeah, hopefully, but look, they're not easily won and we just had to get over the line this year," he said. "We hope we can win a few more but we'll have to wait and see. We know Dublin are going to be very strong again and Galway are young as well, Tyrone will be back and there are other teams too. It remains to be seen but obviously we hope so."
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