Clifford proves impossible task for Donegal as Kerry coast to All-Ireland No 39

Irish Daily Mirror

5 days ago

Kerry 1-26 Donegal 0-19
Not the vintage final to round out a memorable football Championship, but plenty of landmarks all the same.
There may not have been any ebb and flow as Kerry took the lead after 11 seconds and, bar a period of a minute or so after Donegal equalised, never relinquished it before going on to win handsomely in the end, but the new rules meant that there was still plenty to savour from it, if not from a Donegal perspective.
Kerry's winning tally of 1-26 was the biggest posted in an All-Ireland ever. Donegal's total of 0-19 has only been matched twice (Mayo's 1-16 in 2017 and Galway's 2-13, over 80 minutes, in 1973) by a losing team in a final and never bettered.
With that, it's hardly a surprise that this was the highest-scoring ever All-Ireland final with an aggregate of 48 points, three more than that 1973 final in which Cork beat Galway, the only one that comes close.
It was 21 points more than what was scored in last year's Armagh-Galway final, a turgid affair that was low on entertainment despite it being a far closer game than this one.
Admittedly, the closing stages of this Championship have been disappointing in that the final and both semi-finals were rather one-sided but, at this remove, you could argue that there is more to be said for a runaway victory under the new rules than a closely-fought game under the old.
Much of the pre-game debate surrounded David Clifford and whether Donegal could limit his influence to manageable proportions. Ultimately, they couldn't and, indeed, the damage was effectively done by the 17th minute, by which time Clifford had already scored 0-5 (including two two-pointers) and been fouled by Brendan McCole, his marker, for a converted two-point free.
Donegal simply couldn't recover from that eight-minute window that saw Kerry's lead swell from one point to nine. They were always toiling to keep pace with Kerry who, it must be said, won their 39th All-Ireland in something of a canter in the end with four successive wins over Ulster opposition in Cavan (nine points), Armagh (eight points) and Tyrone (six points), followed by most comprehensive dismissal of the provincial champions.
And it came just six weeks after Meath, whom Donegal had 20 points to spare on in the semi-final, had beaten them by nine.
A fifth All-Ireland title for Jack O'Connor puts him one clear of Seán Boylan's tally with Meath and behind only Mick O'Dwyer (eight) and Jim Gavin (six). Remarkably, each of those five were prefaced by a League title earlier in the season.
Broadly speaking, there was a school of thought that this would be a close final that Donegal would edge, but there seemed to be something a bit too cosy about that group think given Kerry's pedigree, and so it proved.
Michael Langan, Conor O'Donnell and Michael Murphy had their moments for Donegal, but the outstanding performers were all in blue, a colour that Kerry won the All-Ireland in for first time since 1970, against Meath.
Brendan McCole stuck to his task with Clifford but it was largely an impossible one. He kicked his first two-pointer from the smallest of openings in the eighth minute and if it was going to require a group effort to keep tabs on him, then that was fatally undermined by Caolán McColgan spilling possession leading to his second a minute later.
In the 15th minute, McColgan bundled Clifford over and was fortunate to avoid a booking as Sean O'Shea slotted the resulting two-point free.
It was so early in the game and Clifford was already well in credit. There was a white flag after O'Shea's fee and a critical two-pointer on the stroke of half-time that pushed Kerry's lead out to 0-17 to 0-10 after Donegal had worked hard to narrow the deficit.
There were another couple of Clifford singles in the second half but he fell just short of perfection for the fact that he was turned over in the first half, leading to a Murphy point, while his goal late effort was taken off the line by O'Donnell.
Simple arithmetic points to him being directly involved in 0-11 in a game that Kerry won by 10 - but there were others to rival his display, not least his brother Paudie, who ran the game, with Donegal unable to get a handle on him at all.
Arguably highest among his many key contributions was a foul drawn from Peadar Mogan, allowing O'Shea to kick another two-point free to make it 0-25 to 0-18 in 59th minute, effectively killing Donegal off.
Captain Gavin White was magnificent too, putting Donegal on the back foot literally from the throw-in and finishing with 0-3, and was roughly on a par with the Clifford brothers, though that triumvirate was backed by a star cast, not least Joe O'Connor who capped another fine display by firing in the game's only goal late on. Kerry's Joe O'Connor celebrates scoring a goal (Image: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)
Donegal boss Jim McGuinness said recently how the 2014 final loss to Kerry pained him on a daily basis until he came back to the job almost two years ago.
Given how so many of his players failed to perform to a reasonable standard, this one will ache for some time yet.
KERRY: Shane RYAN; Paul MURPHY, Jason FOLEY, Dylan CASEY; Brian Ó BEAGLAOICH, Mike BREEN, Gavin WHITE (0-3); Seán O'BRIEN (0-2), Mark O'SHEA; Joe O'CONNOR (1-0), Seán O'SHEA (0-6, 0-1f, 2tpf), Graham O'SULLIVAN; David CLIFFORD (0-9, 3tp), Paudie CLIFFORD (0-3), Dylan GEANEY (0-3).
Subs: Diarmuid O'Connor for O'Brien (50), Killian Spillane for Geaney (54), Evan Looney for Ó Beaglaoich (63), Tadhg Morley for Breen (65), Micheál Burns for O'Sullivan (69).
DONEGAL: Shaun PATTON; Caolán McCOLGAN, Peadar MOGAN, Brendan McCOLE; Eoghan Ban GALLAGHER, Finnbarr ROARTY, Ryan McHUGH; Caolán McGONAGLE (0-1), Michael LANGAN; Ciarán Moore, Ciarán THOMPSON, Shane O'DONNELL (0-2); Conor O'DONNELL (0-4), Michael MURPHY (0-8, 0-6f), Oisín GALLEN (0-3).
Subs: Dara Ó Baoill (0-1) for Thompson (23), Hugh McFadden for McColgan (HT), Jason McGee for McHugh (41), Paddy McBrearty for Conor O'Donnell (50), Jamie Brennan for Gallagher (59).
REFEREE: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).