Opinion: The best Kerry performance since Mick O'Dwyer's team were in their pomp

Irish Daily Mirror

27-07-2025

The predictions came true. Clifford couldn't be stopped. He dictated the terms and conditions.
Except no one bothered to read the small print.
For this wasn't David Clifford's final - although with 0-9 to his name he hardly had an off-day. Instead the 2025 All-Ireland will be remembered for Paudie rather than David - the guy, who in familial terms, is more Noel than Liam, Jackie than Bobby, Robert than JFK.
Read more: Jack O'Connor hints at Kerry 'last hurrah' after landing fifth All-Ireland title
Read more: All-Ireland final TV viewers have same complaint during Kerry v Donegal
While you could easily make the argument that he is the second best footballer in Ireland, you could never pretend he is the most talented player in his own home.
Until today when he got 76 possessions, four points, the keys to the Kingdom and the walk up the steps of the Hogan Stand as the man of the match.
As he made his way along the oak panelled walkway, the President watched on.
Next to him, the Taoiseach… Ireland's two most powerful men straining their necks to be photographed next to Ireland's most talented brothers.
Like schoolchildren.
Excited. In awe.
And why not?
They had watched Gaelic football at its best, Kerry's most complete performance of the century, a combination of the Cliffords' sorcery, Dylan Geaney's understated excellence, Gavin White's surges.
Jack O'Connor came up with the plan, Joe O'Connor executed it.
They were flawless. Ahead after 20 seconds, they started fast and kept motoring; two points clear after five minutes, four ahead after seven, six points in front after 10, nine to the good after 17.
Twice Donegal launched comebacks, getting four points in a row in the first half, dominating for 15 minutes in the second period when they outscored Kerry by 0-8 to 0-3.
But by the time the clock ticked past the hour mark, the most tactically sophisticated team in Ireland were reduced to a clueless, panicky mess, taking potshots from silly angles, coughing up possession repeatedly, out Ulster-ed by the county who supposedly had an allergy to sides from Up North.
Not this time. The bottom line is Kerry did what they wanted. There was a bit of puke football when they had to win breaking balls.
And there was the traditional, classy, fast-flowing passing game which has been coached from one generation to the next. They scored 1-26 - the highest total in an All-Ireland final. Only 0-3 came from frees.
On their own kick-outs, they were smart, running Michael Murphy ragged; pushing O'Connor wide to have an actionable Plan B.
Everything they tried came off, David Clifford waiting eight minutes and forty seven seconds for his first touch of the ball, then scoring a two-pointer from that possession.
Yet while he was exceptional, his brother was better, both playmaker and scorer, quarterback and wide receiver, operating the match off a personalised remote control.
And as all this drama unfolded, Jim McGuinness, the most celebrated tactician in Gaelic football, watched from the sideline. Unable to believe his eyes.
One of his star players, Ryan McHugh, lasted only 40 minutes. His supersub, Paddy McBrearty, failed to fire or indeed score. His go-to man-marker, Brendan McCole, was outclassed. His goalkeeper's kick-out strategy got decoded. Nothing went right. Kerry's Joe O'Connor celebrates scoring a goal (Image: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)
Yet while he clearly lost the tactical battle and can deservedly be criticised for failing to police Paudie Clifford, there are times when a coach is powerless.
And this was one of those days, like Alex Ferguson against Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, Angelo Dundee watching Joe Frazier against Ali in 1971, Davy Fitzgerald's Waterford against Brian Cody's Kilkenny in 2008.
'This is a day to talk about Kerry and how well they played,' said McGuinness afterwards.
What else could he say?
That they had no Plan B.
That his players were not good enough.
That the vast majority of pundits tipping Kerry was an additional motivation for the victors.
The truth is it didn't matter what plan McGuinness had.
Kerry were as close to perfect as a team can get. They made an exceptional side and a deeply intelligent manager look ordinary.
You have to remember what McGuinness was up against, a superb team, a once-in-a-generation footballer, his stellar brother, and an underrated coach.
Jack O'Connor's All-Ireland final record now stands at five wins, three defeats. Only two men, Mick O'Dwyer and Jim Gavin, have won more championships.
And yet he has never been feted like either of those two hall of farmers.
Perhaps now that will change because this was as good a tactical masterclass as the one McGuinness produced in 2014 against Dublin.
For starters, there was the way he manipulated the new rules to position Paudie Clifford just inside the Donegal half where the three forwards were unable to touch him, yet far enough away from the arc, a border their defenders were anxious to defend.
They failed to do so, coughing up five two-pointers, all the while leaving Paudie free to direct the play whichever way he wanted.
Seventy-six possessions, each of them shrewdly used, hurt Donegal so deeply.
Never mind the four points he scored, there were the points he created, the pressure points he exerted.
And watching over him was a man whose first All-Ireland final took place 21 years ago and who has been in six since.
We can't underestimate the value of that experience, especially when you add in the three underage All-Irelands he won with Kerry's minor and Under 21 sides.
This, he hinted, would be his last hurrah - the end of one era just as another era of Kerry dominance looks set to begin. The Dubs did six in a row. Kerry, in the next five years, could go close to matching that.
They were that good.