‘I just needed a break' – Kerry star David Clifford finds fresh spark in 2025 season

The Irish Sun

16-05-2025

THEY say a change is as good as a rest — but David Clifford reckons that he needed a bit of both this year.
Football's
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David Clifford of Kerry admits that he needed a break after the 2024 season
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The Kerry star is loving life under the new rules for the 2025 campaign
The five-time All-Star has blasted 5-44 in just seven starts since returning later than normal to duty for 2025.
And so far in this year's Championship, he is averaging ten points per game — significantly up on his previous best of 6.75 across the summer of 2023.
Of course, it is early days yet in the story of the 2025 race for Sam and Group 2 rivals Roscommon will make life more difficult for Clifford tomorrow than Clare did in the Munster final.
But the Kingdom's talisman looks virtually unmarkable on current form, having found life under last year's rules 'boring'.
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And that is where the rest came in because he felt he badly needed an extended winter break to recharge his nearly-empty battery.
Now, he is playing with a smile on his face again and noticeably celebrating scores with even more glee.
Speaking at the announcement that SuperValu have renewed their sponsorship of the
'I'd say that was my longest spell off. It was nice to refresh and do other things and go to other things and just be a normal person for a few months.
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'It was nice to be able to spend a bit of time doing hard training as well because when you're playing matches, so often the training element of it falls down a small bit because you're just topping yourself up for the games.
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'It had been busy. But at the end of the day, they're the times that you look back on as the best times of your career too, coming from getting to the latter stages of the Kerry championship and then going into the Fossa campaigns.
'During it, you know well that they're not going to last, you're not going to be successful every year. So it was trying to realise that and to enjoy it.
'But then there probably comes a time too where the body just needs a bit of a break. Even mentally you just need a bit of a break so it was great to get that.'
What Clifford returned to with Kerry in the middle of this year's National League was a brand new game.
And in a sport that is now built around quick thinking and score-poaching, the very best forward that there is was always going to benefit.
Clifford already has five goals to his name and smiled: 'I was liking the sound of the four points for a goal but that was thrown out fairly fast!
'The big fear around the four-point goal, I suppose, was around, let's say, a Division 1 team plays a Division 4 team. There was a fear a 20-point hammering would turn into a 50-point hammering.
'I think in fairness to the Football Review Committee they have gotten enough flak and they've had to explain their decisions and stand over them.
'I wouldn't like to be seen to be adding to their workload. I think, in fairness, they've done a brilliant job.'
With teams now having to keep three forwards high up the pitch at all times, Clifford is operating closer to goal for his county.
The 26-year-old said he is covering less distance in games now but is 'more focused on acceleration and deceleration', leading to increased scoring overall.
KEY ASPECTS
Clifford said: 'When you were growing up, that's the way football was played.
'And even in my first few years as a senior, you probably didn't go back over the halfway line at all to defend.
'That obviously changed a bit with the kind of 15 back and 15 attacking over the past few years.
'Now it's obviously back to the three staying up.
'But there'll still be times where you'll have a corner-back who is raiding forward and you'll have to track him for a lot of that run.'
The bad news for Roscommon this weekend is that Clifford will team up again with big brother Paudie.
Playmaker Paudie was sent off in the narrow extra-time win over Cork and missed the provincial final rout of the Banner but is available again.
Asked if his brother was hard done by for the red card, Clifford said: 'Obviously I'm totally and utterly biased so I don't really have a say.
'I thought it was an awkward tackle alright but look, a yellow would have been OK, I thought.'
Another of the team's top men, Seán O'Shea, is back fully firing too after missing the second half of Kerry's successful league campaign with a knee injury.
With a number of strong-looking Sam Maguire contenders having emerged, the Kingdom will probably need all three at their peak again if they are to match their 2022 All-Ireland success.
Clifford said: 'It's massive to have Seánie back, he was lifting against Clare which was great. Obviously you want to have your best players on the pitch.
'So getting him back, and the things he's able to do for us as a group both on and off the pitch, is just massive. It's great to have him back out there.'
Clifford added that injuries have been a frustration for Kerry this year, leaving them constantly chopping and changing.
He said: 'It can be a frustration at times because, I won't say you're planning your team but in your own head you would be thinking who would play here and who would play there.
'And then when you don't have everyone it can be a bit tricky.'