Kerry's Kennedy Cup captain Joe Joy confident the team can live with best of the rest
He was front and centre when Kerry lifted the U14 SFAI All-Ireland Trophy earlier this year, scoring goals and being named Man of the Match in the final.
The excitement of representing Kerry in such a major competition isn't lost on Joy. From the moment the squad came together, he's been fully committed to the team and now, the focus shifts to the Kennedy Cup, and Joy is relishing the challenge ahead.
'It's great. The legacy of this will be great. And then being captain as well just tops it all off. It would be a great experience to hopefully go far in this as captain and leading on the team like we've done in other games hopefully.'
'I'm more than happy to be in this squad. Any fella would dream of it, whoever has been on the team before. It will be a great experience hopefully. Coming out with the top dogs, it would be great to give everyone a game,' he added.
This year's tournament brings a slightly different set-up than last year, with Kerry placed in a four-team group alongside South Belfast, Tipperary South, and North Tipperary. They enter the competition as a second seed, having shown their quality in their Inter-League and national campaign.
The draw brought some intrigue, but Joy - speaking before the draw was made - remained confident regardless of the group.
'We'll all be excited to see the draw. I can't see why you can't put any team on their behinds. We could run anyone to the ground once we just keep it up the whole game.
'And we've done this in previous games. Of course, we were unlucky in the first few inter-league games. We were missing players, key players. And it'd be great if we could give everyone a game, and see how we get on.'
That belief is backed up by results. Kerry have already shown they can perform under pressure and win when it counts. The All-Ireland Trophy campaign saw them bounce back from a tough group stage to record big wins in the knock-out rounds, including a 3-0 victory in the final at the University of Limerick, the same venue that will host the Kennedy Cup.
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Training has helped the team in the build-up, with the players themselves maintaining momentum through local competitions and friendlies. But he believes the group's connection off the pitch will be just as important as anything they do on it.
'Staying the nights there will be great, getting to know people better,' Joy said of the week-long tournament in UL.
'We'd be hoping to do well in it, and coming off the back of doing well in the final, it'd be great to that pressure from the start. And a few early goals in the games, I can't see why any team will keep up with us.
'Playing the games would be the main thing, and just getting to know everyone better before the season's out. We've been here a long time together. We train, and we've just bonded together as a team as well. So it'd be great if we could just bond the extra way and do very well again.'
With leadership from the sideline and a talented squad on the pitch, Joy will look to inspire Kerry as they aim to write the next chapter in the county's Kennedy Cup history, and perhaps create more memories to match that unforgettable triumph in 2015.
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Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Eight years, two All-Irelands and five All-Stars, Kerry's David Clifford takes stock of career to date
David Clifford at 26. It's an interesting time to take stock, at the halfway point of an extraordinary inter-county football career. It's eight years since Jack O'Shea, speaking after watching Clifford shoot 1-10 for the Kerry minors in the 2017 All-Ireland semi-final win over Cavan, said that the Fossa phenom was already equipped for senior duty. The Kerry seniors were preparing to play Mayo and O'Shea said he'd start Clifford if he could, 'without a doubt'. The rules prohibited it so a teenage Clifford stuck to minor duty and memorably hit Derry for 4-4 in that year's final. "I'm looking forward to watching him for the next 10 years," said O'Shea at the time. That decade has almost passed and Clifford last month claimed his second All-Ireland senior medal. He has seven Munster medals too, five All-Stars and will probably break new ground as the first three-time recipient of the Footballer of the Year award. But Jacko is still well out in front in the All-Ireland medal count, with seven. So how has the first half of his career been for Clifford, is he happy with everything he has achieved at this stage? "If I am to look back from here, it's been a very fast eight years with Kerry," said the PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for July in football. "Jesus, it doesn't seem like I've been playing senior for that long. I still feel 21 or 22 but it's not the case anymore. I don't know, like, you want to be winning All-Irelands and you'd love to win it every year but I suppose you're kind of realising that that's not the case and you kind of understand how hard they are to win." Clifford finished this year's Championship with 8-62 from nine games, comfortably the country's leading scorer with an average of just under 10 points per game. Even accounting for the 14 two-pointers he kicked - again, a record - it's outrageous scoring. What the schoolteacher and father of one can say for certain is that he enjoyed this All-Ireland more than the 2022 win. It was 'relief' back then, just to finally get a medal, while it was more smiles and celebrations across the 2025 campaign. There were plenty of comments about just how much Clifford celebrated his points and goals. "It probably just comes out, particularly the scores in Croke Park," he explained. "The crowd seemed to be behind us and if you can get a score and then get involved with the crowd, it just gives the crowd, and you, an extra lift again. So yeah, it probably just comes out of you at the time and sometimes you're probably over-celebrating and things but at the time it seems to be what's right." Clifford cuts a relaxed figure as his mid-20s eye up his late-20s. Lead him down avenues that he doesn't wish to travel and he's confident enough to immediately cut you off with the same ruthlessness he showed Brendan McCole on All-Ireland final day. 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It wasn't good enough." The no-show against Meath will eventually be forgotten. When the story of the 2025 Championship is reflected upon, it'll be all about the smiles and scores of Kerry's lethal talisman. "There was a lot more joy and a lot more fun associated with it," acknowledged Clifford of 2025. Because of the new rules? "Obviously that made a massive difference," he nodded. "Look, the way the game had gone in the last few years, it became hard to get space. There weren't many kick-pass plays. So it was hard. You were trying to pick your way around it. At the time, maybe you didn't realise how hard it was. When you see the new game now, it's made a huge difference." Back in May, Clifford was only half joking when he lamented how quickly the four-point goal trial had been jettisoned. "I was liking the sound of the four points for a goal," he said at the time. The Football Review Committee had a look at it again recently. Presumably, given his eight goals in this year's Championship, Clifford would favour a rethink? "Possibly, yeah," he said. "Because I suppose at the moment the difference between a two-pointer and a goal isn't hectic. But still, a goal is still...I know it's only worth one more than a two-pointer, but it's just a bit different." And on the Clifford show will go, for the coming weeks and months with Fossa. After games, he will continue to be besieged by kids and autograph and selfie hunters, win or lose. "It can be hard at times, after a loss maybe with Fossa or whatever, and the kids still want their photo," said Clifford. "To try and remove yourself from the loss and understand that the kids just want their photo or whatever it is. You kind of get used to it. I'm not perfect with it. Sometimes you're just not in the form for meeting people or taking photos or whatever but I try, if I can, I try to help them out. 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RTÉ News
3 hours ago
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John McGrath: Second half of final beyond 'wildest dreams'
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The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
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David Clifford urges GAA chiefs to stop tinkering with rules after Kerry's All-Ireland glory
Clifford, top scorer with a stunning 8-62, says he 'enjoyed it a lot more' this time as the Kingdom mastered Gaelic football's revamped rulebook TOO MUCH David Clifford urges GAA chiefs to stop tinkering with rules after Kerry's All-Ireland glory THE new rules that have revamped Gaelic football helped to make David Clifford's second All-Ireland SFC triumph even more enjoyable than the first. But with the Football Review Committee considering further changes, the talismanic Kerry forward reckons it is time to leave well enough alone. 2 David Clifford scooped the PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for July 2 The Kerry icon wants GAA brass to stop adjusting the rule in Gaelic Football Clifford thrived under the rule changes this year as the Kingdom regained the Sam Maguire. The victory over Donegal in last month's final delivered another Celtic Cross for the 26-year-old, who claimed his first in 2022. He said: "I think the first one was probably a lot of relief because you hadn't won one. This one, personally I enjoyed it a lot more. There was a lot more joy and a lot more fun associated with it." With 8-62 to his credit, Clifford finished atop the Championship scoring charts with a 33-point buffer separating him from team-mate Seán O'Shea in second. His tally was boosted by no fewer than FOURTEEN two-pointers. Addressing the role played by the rules, he continued: "Obviously it made a massive difference. "The way the game had gone in the last few years, it became hard to get space and there wasn't many kick-pass plays and there wasn't many fast plays, so it was hard. "You were trying to kind of pick your way around it and at the time maybe you didn't realise how hard it was. But when you see the new game now, it's made a huge difference." The roll of honour will forever show that Kerry were the first team to master the game since it underwent a significant overhaul ahead of the 2025 season. Clifford added: "The three-up and the fact that you can have bodies in the top half of the pitch when you turn over a ball, that you're able to kick-pass, we would have felt that would have suited us. Henry Shefflin among GAA stars at Oasis gigs where Man City tradition made its Croke Park debut "Obviously every team kind of adapts and it ends up suiting a lot of different teams. But we thought the way they were written up would have suited us alright." Further amendments to the rule book could still be made as the FRC recently put a couple more to the test in a trial game between Dublin clubs Round Towers and Fingallians. Players were unable to bring the ball back into their own half once it had crossed the halfway mark. The four-point goal, which Clifford admits to being 'not sure' about, was also given another spin after being scrapped from the agenda last winter. But the five-time All-Star said: "I think we might be better off leaving them alone with all the changes after last year. No, I'm happy with the way it is, to be honest." A third Footballer of Year award in four seasons looks likely for Clifford, who enhanced his status as an all-time great with a string of superb performances while also claiming National League and Munster SFC medals in 2025. The secondary school teacher, who made his senior debut just a few days removed from his 19th birthday, said: "I suppose if I'm to look back from here, it's been a very fast eight years with Kerry. "Jesus, yeah, it doesn't seem like I've been playing senior for that long. I still feel 21 or 22, but it's not the case anymore. 'Like, you want to be winning All-Irelands and you'd love to win it every year. "But I suppose you're kind of realising that's not the case and you kind of understand how hard they are to win so you kind of cherish the ones we've won a bit more maybe." While being tightly marked by Brendan McCole, Clifford spent just 43 seconds in possession during this year's All-Ireland final. Yet it is a mark of his magic that he still managed to rack up 0-9. He explained: "You might have only eight or nine possessions in the final and in another game you could have 30 possessions. It just depends what kind of comes in front of you. "I'm delighted if I can keep wide and let the rest of the boys do damage. I'm delighted with that. At this stage, it's just about winning as a team. "The individual stuff now doesn't really matter much. It's about winning as a team. That's kind of all that matters to me now." KINGDOM FAME As a bona fide superstar, Clifford has grown accustomed to being mobbed by young supporters in the aftermath of games, particularly with his club Fossa and divisional outfit East Kerry. On life in the limelight, he said: "It can be hard at times. Let's say after a loss, maybe with Fossa or whatever and kids still want their photo, to try and remove yourself from the loss and understand that the kids just want their photo or whatever. "You kind of get used to it. I'm not perfect with it in one sense. Sometimes you're just not in the form for meeting people or taking photos or whatever. But I try, if I can, to help them out. 'I was a young person meeting Kerry players not that long ago, so I kind of understand what it brings to them.'
