'The pressure is different, it’s very intense' - David Clifford delivers on the big day once again

The Fossa talisman says he's looking forward to a break after Sunday's All-Ireland final victory.

Sun, 15 Jan, 2023 - 16:45

John Fogarty

David Clifford admitted he felt more pressure to perform in this All-Ireland final than last July’s with Kerry.

Scoring 11 points, the 2022 footballer of the year hardly showed it as he guided Fossa to victory. However, he admitted to experiencing additional responsibility because it was his own and it was a genuine family affair.

“This is slightly different because you have the pressure of everything. When you’re going playing with Kerry, you have the pressure of performing yourself whereas here you have the pressure of the whole thing.

“Having dad (Dermot) so closely involved, being the chairman as well, you can see what it means to him. So the pressure is different, it’s very intense. But there’s a total outpouring of emotion then when you do get over the line.”

Along with his brother Paudie who questioned his sending off in his acceptance speech, David was on the line at the final whistle having picked up a second yellow card.

It hardly blemished his performance but he remarked: “No one likes to get sent off but it wasn’t that type of game. There’s desperation comes into it towards the end of a game. There’s so much emotion, maybe you lose the run of yourself a small bit. We’ll forget about that.” Clifford paid tribute to Stewartstown Harps who never lost sight of Fossa.

“In fairness, they had class forwards. They were chipping away at scores all day. So, we knew we had to change something at half-time. We brought a lot more intensity to the thing. Put a lot more heat on their kick-outs and ultimately got over the line.”

Fossa manager Adrian Sheehan suggested Jack O’Connor has given the Cliffords a month off and the younger brother admitted he is looking forward to the break having played largely non-stop these last 13 months.

He has the carrot of captaining Kerry to return to, but the instructions are to rest. “I forget about that!” he laughed. “Ah no, we’ll take a break. One thing Jack has been anxious about, while the body mightn’t feel too tired, the mental tiredness is the thing. He’s dead right about that one.

“You’re maybe less likely to go and do that extra kicking session, or get down to the field earlier, stuff like that, if you do feel mentally tired. Thankfully, I haven’t experienced too much of it. If I was to imagine, that’s probably what it is.

“When the calendar year finished up, you’re still struggling to reflect because we had this, not hanging over us but to look forward to. It feels like a season’s end now. Three or four weeks now to refresh the mind and we’ll be ready to go again.”

Turning 24 this Sunday, Clifford feels the double All-Ireland success has given him a taste for more. “It was an unbelievable year but it definitely makes you hungry to go on and do more. You see the craic you have after the games and stuff like that, what it means to people. Ah, you’d be really hungry to go again.”