The talismanic forward was kept to three points and his frustration was clear as title defence falls short
David Clifford shows his frustration after Kerry's defeat to Dublin in the All-Ireland SFC final at Croke Park. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/InphoThe night the magic tricks don’t all come off, you hope the room is empty, you hope the world is not watching. But heaven knows the last time David Clifford played an empty dusty hall, the great magicians don’t get the liberty to vanish.
With each of his wides you could sense the anxiety growing within Kerry, the tension felt discombobulating. Clifford was their sure bet, they could rely on him to deliver, for he had done nothing else only that over the course of his entire career.Two of the wides in the second half came in quick succession, at a time when the game was wound so tight it was exhausting just watching the drama play out.
“David Clifford has been magnificent for us all the year. We were hoping upon hope that we would get him up the steps, himself and Paudie today, after the tough year he’s had, the long year he’s had, but it wasn’t to be.” Clifford took possession of the ball out in the corner where the Cusack Stand meets Hill 16. When he turned, Michael Fitzsimons and Brian Howard had him boxed in. Stephen Cluxton’s goal looked about as vulnerable as an ice-cube in a freezer.
“I don’t think there is a player that has ever had a year like David Clifford has had since last January when he won the All-Ireland junior here, right through to now,” stated O’Connor, as he continued the defence of his player.And yet it should be acknowledged that Dublin achieved what they set out to do with Clifford. The talk was if Michael Fitzsimons could limit him to six or seven points that would have been a good day’s work. In the end the Fossa man scored 0-3, two from play.
“Look, it’s never easy lose an All-Ireland final. It is a tough one because I thought there were stages of that game in the second half when we looked like we were, I won’t say in control, but that we were playing within ourselves.
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