Tony Leen: For Fossa's finest, there's one local peak still to scale

At 23, it is unfathomable to consider what David Clifford might do over the next few years. He is a father now, settled into part-time teaching at the Sem in Killarney, and sage enough to keep most hawkers at arm’s length.

SOMEWHERE OVER...David Clifford signs autographs for young supporters after East Kerry's win.

EITHER way, it would have taken a weather warning and a defensive set so deep as to be measured in fathoms to put a spoke in East Kerry’s wheels, but when David Clifford is given tidy parcels of land to operate in, the upshot is measured in absolutes.

Peter O’Sullivan’s Mid Kerry have neither a Tom O’Sullivan or a Mark O’Connor as Dingle had in the semi-final that almost derailed the unbackable favourites for the Bishop Moynihan Cup. And to their credit, they eschewed the route of entrenched fare on Sunday at Austin Stack Park and sought to take on their divisional rivals on equal terms. Or as equal as they get when David Clifford is in the red corner.

Hence, the eventual inevitability of the 45th minute as East Kerry’s attacking arsenal rolled towards the old Mitchels end with murderous menace, from James O’Donoghue, the 2014 footballer of the year, to the burgeoning talent of Ruairi Murphy to All-Ireland winner Jonathan Lyne, to All-Ireland winner and All-Star Paudie Clifford and into David for the finish that spirited East Kerry 1-12 to 0-8 clear of any remaining questions in the Kerry county final.

There will be times in the future when the East Kerry board is not as well endowed with competitive intermediate clubs and generational superstars, but they are not coming anytime soon. Those advocates of the divisional structure in Kerry – and here’s one, by the way – must wince hearing man of the match Clifford speak of the family vibe in the dressing room and friendships that have survived since school.

The Legion club of O’Donoghue, Lyne, Cian Gammell and midfielder Darragh Lyne may well win the Intermediate Championship this year and fly the coop in 2023, and that probably represents the primary threat to East Kerry’s hegemony - the individual ambitions of their constituent clubs. That apart, it would take a strategic masterplan of Napoleonic stature to halt this footballing juggernaut. Dingle almost managed such in the sleeting rain a fortnight ago so when county final Sunday came up bright and blustery, the hearts of the Mid Kerry strategists must have sunk.

Their full back, Nathan Breen, coped as manfully with his colleagues as anyone might in the opening period, and there was enough about Mid Kerry's Fiachra Clifford, Eanna O’Connor and Kieran Dennehy up front in the first period to keep the well-stocked main stand engaged.

UPSIDE DOWN: David Clifford keeps an eye on things.

They were only 0-8 to 0-5 in arrears as the interval approached, but the warning signs were evident to all. James O’Donoghue was dropping deep and leading Pa Wrenn into areas he had no right to be in with the back gate ajar. On 24 minutes O’Donoghue combined with the two Cliffords for Paudie to point and just on the interval whistle, David nonchalantly eased inside onto his right side to land his side’s ninth point.

Those without skin in the game tried hard to convince themselves at half-time that the final still had plenty about it in the way they insist Erling Haaland won’t survive the rigours of the Premier League on Tuesday nights.

By the 42nd minute, the tip of East Kerry’s spear was combining again as Clifford and O’Donoghue teed up Dara Roche for a fine point, and the coup de grace would arrive three minutes later, ironically on the back of two Mid Kerry scores for Keith Evans and Eanna O’Connor, a free for a foul on Gavan O’Grady.

David Clifford would declare on 1-9, only three points of it uncontested, enough for an exclamation mark on another remarkable weekend but not so much as to rub their victims’ noses in the dirt.

At 23, it is unfathomable to consider what he might do over the next few years. He is a father now, settled into part-time teaching at the Sem in Killarney, and sage enough to keep most hawkers at arm’s length. The point being, he seems to be already beyond the stage where the vicissitudes of youth might skittle him.

He was suckled on trips to the fertile football fields of deepest south Kerry and his mother’s people in Ballymacelligott discuss nothing else around the tea table in Gortatlea. He has experienced loss and concerns too, so any temporary blips with injury or form will be put in due context. Besides, he has a remarkably talented sibling a few years older to keep him from veering outside the tramlines.

Both also have the considerable matter of a county championship semi-final in the Premier Junior grade next Sunday against Ardfert. Those who suspect the Cliffords may now pull the handbrake on their season have not met the chairman of the Fossa club, Dermot Clifford. If the other semi-final goes the way of their mother’s club, it will conjure a delightful storyline for the final of Kerry’s third-tier competition.

Kerry Senior Manager Jack O’Connor in Tralee on Sunday.

The Kerry manager Jack O’Connor wasn’t going to let a recent double hip replacement limit his ability to scan the form in Tralee on Sunday – not least when his own son was leading the Mid Kerry attack. He will probably take a look at the likes of Dara Roche, Ruairi Murphy, Pa Warren and Pa Kilkenny come the new year and will welcome the return from injury of Beaufort defender Mike Breen too. 

But he will hardly cry his way through November if Fossa’s march is halted next weekend, not least because that would keep his Clifford trump cards possibly playing through Christmas and beyond in the provincial and All-Ireland club series.

Nothing is certain of course. Eight years ago James O’Donoghue had footballing stardust on tap but a dreadful run of injuries put a depressing halt to his gallop. It was a delight to see him scurrying and scamping his way around Austin Stack Park on Sunday and the rapturous acknowledgement he received from the gallery when replaced on 52 minutes was genuine. Just before it, three Mid Kerry defenders shepherded David Clifford away from goal and into mid-lane traffic, but the resistance was as futile as temporary, Clifford swinging over his tenth score of the piece.

And as he surveyed the wreckage of broken county final dreams, the Mid Kerry full-back Nathan Breen took to laughing.