David Clarke hands Mayo an 'early' warning ahead of All-Ireland SFC final

Avoiding an early Kerry goal should be top of Mayo's wishlist, says the former keeper

EARLY WARNING: Former Mayo Star David Clarke alongside Dorothy McDonnell and Matthew Carr, aged 4, pictured in Ballina for AIB ahead of the 2026 GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.

David Clarke qualifies that his advice to Mayo isn’t sagely and is far more easier said than done but it is borne of experience – avoid the early goal concession.

The Ballina Stephenites man had to pick the ball out of his net in the first half of four All-Ireland finals – 2012, ‘16, ’17 and ’20 – and it’s obviously something he hopes Jack Livingstone doesn’t have to do on Sunday.

"Don't let in a few early goals!” he laughs. “It's happened to me and Mayo loads of times. I'd say maybe as a team, don't concede an early goal, because you'd often find that when teams don't want to concede an early goal, the next thing you know, an early goal goes in!

“Look, as a player, after your warm-up, the nerves go with the first ball you catch and you're into the game. You've got to see it the way it plays. I think everybody in Mayo, and I'm sure the way Andy (Moran) is talking to the press and has talked all year, he just wants Mayo to have a go at it. Do not flipping sit back and wait for this thing to happen for us. Just absolutely have a go at it.

“As a goalkeeper, be confident and consistent in everything you do. If you look at Jack, I think he does that. If you have a bad one, that's your bad one out of the way. Go to the next one. It's really simple stuff.

“I'm not the man to be giving advice about how to start an All-Ireland final because I've had some bad moments. It's obviously the energy the team can bring. I hope it's going to be the right one and it goes the right way for us."

Clarke spent a week helping out the Mayo footballers earlier this year when goalkeeping coach Paul Durcan was away. At a time when another Breaffy man Rob Hennelly was first-choice, he was impressed with Livingstone’s attitude.

“I wouldn't have known Jack all that well. I probably would have just seen him playing the few games we played against them. What I got from him straight away was that he's a really mature kind of guy. He's not a young fella. He's a lad that's holding down a job.

“I think he understood at that stage that Rob was the undisputed number one in everyone's mind. He came to me, he'd played a game the weekend before and he said, 'This happened in the game, can we work on something like that?'

“So, something in my head told me that he's not just turning up training for the sake of it. He had something in him that he wanted to work on, and he was specific and detailed in what he wanted to get done, which is a great sign.” 

Under Jack O’Connor, Kerry won their last two All-Ireland finals against Mayo with direct, long football. Clarke can’t say they won’t try to do so again but suggests they won’t overdo it.

“From what I can see with Kerry, they know the right option. I'm not sure if they're going to put two towers at the edge of the square with David Clifford and say we're going to put it on top of David Clifford here for a half. But there will be mismatches.”

LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN

David Clarke is right – Mayo have to avoid leaking an early goal. In the seventh of the last eight All-Ireland final stagings, they have conceded at least one in the first half:

2020: Dublin 2-14 Mayo 0-15 1st minute – None came as quickly as Dean Rock’s fisted effort 12 seconds into the Covid final.

2017: Dublin 1-17 Mayo 1-16 2nd – A virtuoso effort by Con O’Callaghan just one minute and 24 seconds into the game gave Dublin the perfect start.

2016: Dublin 2-9 Mayo 0-15 9th – One that Clarke himself will want to forget. He saved from Brian Fenton but from the rebound Bernard Brogan threw a foot at it and in his attempt to clear it Kevin McLoughlin put it into his own net. It was one of two first-half own goals. In the replay, they kept a clean sheet in the first half.

2013: Dublin 2-12 Mayo 1-14 16th – Bernard Brogan touched on Paul Flynn’s straight delivery to level the game.

2012: Donegal 2-11 Mayo 0-13 3rd – Karl Lacey’s diagonal ball was caught by Michael Murphy and thumped to the back of the Mayo net.

2006: Kerry 4-15 Mayo 3-5 7th - Declan O’Sullivan’s neat one-two with Kieran Donaghy was a sign of things to come in a one-sided decider.

2004: Kerry 1-20 Mayo 2-9 25th - Alan Dillon struck first in fifth-minute goal but Colm Cooper’s three-pointer sent Kerry 10 up 20 minutes later.