Jack O'Connor has 'no idea' how David Clifford deals with weight of expectation

Irish Daily Mirror

5 days ago

Jack O'Connor says he doesn't know how David Clifford deals with the pressure as he hailed the Kerry super stars 'unique temperament' following yesterday's stunning All-Ireland final triumph.
Clifford spent long spells out of the game, being man marked by Donegal's Brendan McCole, but he still finished with nine points from play.
The Fossa man's haul included three two pointers from play - and from a total of seven shots he hit the target six times.
Already a double Footballer of the Year, the 26 year old looks nailed on to land the biggest gong in Gaelic football for a third time.
O'Connor (64) also spoke about the aftermath of Kerry's All-Ireland round robin defeat by Meath, a time when 'life wasn't pleasant for me,' and addressed his own future, saying it could be his 'last hurrah.'
But, he was fulsome in his praise for Clifford, who was winning a second Celtic Cross.
The five-time All Star, who has a sixth in the bag, was criticised in some quarters for his display in the 2023 All-Ireland Final defeat by Dublin - unfairly in a lot of eyes.
That added to the pressure on him coming into his first final since then, but he fairly came up with the goods when it mattered most.
And now it seems certain he will go on to win more All-Irelands under the new rules.
'David has a unique temperament,' said O'Connor. 'He just takes it all in his stride. Of course he must have felt pressure and he knew he was going to get a lot of heat.
'But we spoke about it during the week and he said, look, if I'm double-marked and triple-marked, I'll just win it and slip it.
'He's humble enough to create scores for other people and he was a massive part of our win out there because he kicked two two-pointers.
'Particularly the one on the stroke of half-time was just inspirational for us going in. Just gave an extra pep in our step.
'But how he deals with the weight of expectation, I have no idea. He's a unique temperament.'
Despite Clifford's nine points from play the general consensus was that Kerry skipper Gavin White was man of the match with three points from the half back line and a series of assists and kickout wins, as well as setting up scores from both throw-ups.
A close second was Paudie Clifford, who the stats said afterwards handled the ball a remarkable 76 times, and orchestrated everything good about Kerry's clinical attacking play.
'Paudie is just coming back to himself after a long oul injury and we felt that he was coming good,' said O'Connor. 'He handled some amount of ball out there and he just calmed things down.
'A big part of playing Donegal is get value out of your attacks and don't turn it over. I think Meath found that out when they didn't work the Donegal defence. They just took pot shots from outside the arc, just looking for two-pointers.
'Now you take the two-pointers when they're on but you don't force them and you work their defenders.
'I thought we worked the Donegal defenders. That in turn takes away a bit of their legs for going the other way. I thought that was a big factor.
'I didn't think that the likes of Roarty, Mogan and McHugh had a big influence in that game - attacking-wise. I think a lot of that has to do with the patience we showed in the attack and keeping them occupied.'
O'Connor also spoke about the period after the shock All-Ireland round robin defeat by Meath at Tullamore, which meant Kerry didn't top their group and had to play a preliminary quarter-final.
At the time many locals were restless and some of the band of Kerry pundits not too happy either.
'The part that got brushed under the carpet was that we were down a pile of men going to Tullamore,' said O'Connor.
'I know I'm like a broken record, but I keep saying that Seán O'Shea was missing that day. He's a massive part of that unit out there because he just knits everything together. He does a bit of everything.
'He wins kick-outs. He tackles. He links the play. He sets up scores and he kicks scores and he organises for us. I know that's a lot of stuff for one man to do. So he's like the conductor of the orchestra on the field.
'That was the one week where I was really down before the game because I knew he was missing. So I wasn't overly surprised that we didn't play well up there.
'There was a lot of fall-out from the Meath game and life wasn't pleasant for me for a couple of weeks there. And maybe that was behind the bit of steam I left off here a month ago.'
Kerry went from barely shooting a two pointer in the League to racking them up when it mattered.
Yesterday they hit five, three from David Clifford and two from Sean O'Shea (both frees) and missed four more - from Paudie Clifford, Dylan Geaney, Mike Breen and O'Shea.
Donegal didn't manage any two pointers in the game, or any real goal chances, and had just three shots for two pointers in total.
So what turned it around on two pointers? 'There was a simple enough reason,' said O'Connor. 'Now, I'll tell you the truth. We played eight games in nine weeks in the League in bad conditions.
'There wasn't much time now to be working on two-pointers. You're basically recovering and doing a bit of fitness work and basic stuff.
'As soon as the League was over we went into a training camp and started working on the thing.
'Because there's a bit of an art in getting the right shooters on the ball at the right angles and coming on the right cuts and stuff.
'We didn't see a big need to work on it in the League because first of all we didn't have time to do it.
'Second of all, we were scoring goals which were camouflaging the fact that we weren't getting two-pointers. Simple as that.'
O'Connor quickly dismissed mention of previous All-Irelands being soft compared to this one, referring to the decider hammerings over Mayo in 2004 and 2006 on his watch for his first two Sam Maguires.
This time around Kerry defeated Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal en route to the biggest prize in the game.
'I'll tell you now, when we're looking back on the All-Ireland, there won't be any asterisks beside any of them,' he said. 'They're all of the same value, in my eyes anyway.'