David Clifford interview: 'We were delighted to be distracted by the games. It's the downtime when thoughts can creep in'

The Kerry star chats in real terms about the loss of his mother a year ago and how football insulated the family from the grief - at least for a while. 'In a weird way, you were nearly invincible for a few weeks because it didn't really matter what happened'

DARK DAYS: 'The first of everything is very tough – Christmas and all of that', reflected Kerry's David Clifford, who was chatting at SuperValu’s continuing sponsorship into a 15th summer of the All-Ireland SFC. Pic: Dan Sheridan, Inpho

It goes without saying that Munster football finals will forever have a tinge of poignancy for the Clifford family.

Two days after David and Paudie’s mother Ellen passed away last May, the pair lined out, as per her wishes, and scored 3-6 between them. David lifted the Munster cup without a speech. On an ever so bittersweet day, everybody understood.

Sunday week’s game, Clare again providing the opposition, falls on Ellen’s anniversary. She will be at the forefront of her sons’ thoughts.

“It was mom’s birthday a couple of weeks back,” explains David. “The first of everything is very tough – Christmas and all of that. Probably, subconsciously you're going through the different phases of it where you don't want to think about it and then you're in a place now where you can think about it a bit more.

“You think about the good times, as opposed to trying to put it out of your head. There's just different phases you go through. It's strange alright but you just have to plough on, simple as.” 

Clifford admits feeling almost untouchable in that final. Nothing was going to affect him as much as his personal loss. “The game that day wasn't the end of the world. While we wanted to play and we wanted to win, we were still conscious of where we were at in the season.

“In a weird way, you were nearly like invincible for a few weeks because it didn't really matter what happened. You were at the bottom so whatever else happened... so yeah it was difficult. But we were delighted for the distraction of the games too. It's on the downtime that maybe thoughts can creep in.” 

Kerry people were good and honoured the Clifford family’s privacy while trying to lend a helping hand. Clifford-mania is very real but his own tend to keep their distance. “Look, in Kerry people are into football and I have no problem talking about football, but I’d sooner talk about how Fossa got on in the county league at the weekend or how Crokes got on or how Spa or Legion are playing rather than Kerry.

“People ask you how is training going and of course you say training is going well or whatever but there’s only so much you can say.” 

Speaking of Fossa, Clifford couldn’t go without mentioning Kerry’s new championship format, which would have copper-fastened the club’s senior status had they beaten Milltown-Castlemaine in last year’s intermediate final.

“That was so disappointing, the intermediate, because we know how hard it's going to be to win. Then this week, to add insult to injury, there is going to be no relegation for two years. If we had gotten up we were guaranteed to be there for three years.” 

As long as there are objectives like going senior, even a footballer who has been crowned the best by his peers the last two years will be motivated. How does he deal with expectations?

“Genuinely, by just not thinking of them. We have our own individual targets, that you want to hit, percentages of shots you want to get, percentage of attacks that you want to get shots out of, all that kind of stuff. Being focused on that does make it a bit easier, takes the occasion out of the game.”

Striving to keep up with the evolution of the game also appeals to Clifford. “We just have to embrace it. While that might be harder for someone who has watched football a certain way, you’d often see how positive everyone is about hurling and then you look at the football and it’s all seems to be so negative. You’re nearly saying ‘leave it alone’ in one sense.” 

Clifford during Saturday's three-point Munster SFC final win over Cork. They meet Clre in the decierr.

He was visibly delighted when he won a free after receiving the 66th pass Kerry strung together to seal Saturday’s semi-final win over Killarney. Pretty, that sequence wasn’t; pragmatic, it certainly was.

“The boos were probably coming from Cork and Kerry fans at one stage, but it’s just not what the football traditionalist is used to seeing. But when you are able to take the sting out of a game like that and bring something that you’ve worked on to the pitch, it’s very satisfying.

“I suppose when you are playing you just want to do what you can to get over the line. You can see the other side of it and if you are watching the game, it’s not exactly exhilarating stuff but that’s just the way it is, I suppose.” 

Kerry’s U20s are in action again this week and it remains a regret of Clifford’s that the previous U20/senior eligibility rule denied him and Seán O’Shea the opportunity to line out for Kerry at that under-age grade in 2018 and ‘19. “Ah definitely yeah, especially because you can see that it’s manageable. Let’s say maybe if you were on the senior panel, you could train away with the seniors and play the game midweek with the U20s or whatever.

“It’s disappointing but it’s not something that you’d be thinking about every day or anything, but when you do look back on it alright, the first year the lads lost in Kildare in a semi and in the next year they lost to Cork as well. Sure, it’s your friends that are playing and it’s disappointing at the time.” 

*David Clifford was speaking at the launch of All-Ireland senior football championship sponsor SuperValu’s #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign.