Kerry legend Barry John Keane hails ‘down to earth’ David Clifford ahead of All-Ireland final against Galway
BARRY JOHN KEANE says there is far more to David Clifford than football.
The Kerry star forward has been the county’s darling since he won back-to-back minor crowns with the Kingdom in 2016 and 2017, before joining the senior squad and impressing in his debut season in 19 years of age.
CLifford already has three All-Stars and will surely go down as an all-time great — but Sam Maguire has eluded him so far.
Keane retired from inter-county football in 2018 and the pair are old college pals from IT Tralee.
Kerry face Galway in Sunday’s All-Ireland final and Keane says the Fossa ace is a joy to be around despite the pressures of stardom.
He said: “He’s just so down to earth that he just takes it in his stride.
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“He could sit down and talk to anyone — he’s just a normal bloke.
“You have to kind of be there to see it.
“You’d meet him for a coffee or lunch and you wouldn’t even be talking football, you’d be talking about Celtic from years ago, a golf fella or soccer signings.
“And you know what? It’s a good way to keep the distraction from football.
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“You don’t want to be thinking about football 24/7.
“Don’t get me wrong, when he’s in the zone, he’s in the zone but he likes to get the release as well and take the pressure off.”
Kerins O’Rahilly’s man Keane, 32, won an All-Ireland medal in 2014 and hopes a win on Sunday can kick start something special.
The Kingdom failed to build on their last victory eight years ago, and he says it is time to put things right after beating Dublin last time out for the first time in Championship football since 2009.
He added: “Things are very quiet down there. There’s not much banners up, maybe this week that will start.
“I think they celebrated their win over Dublin but they know that that doesn’t matter if they don’t get the job done on Sunday.
“They were brought down to earth very quickly by Jack O’Connor I’d say and will be ready to go, it was just to rest and recover.
“At the back of their heads the Kerry players know they need to get this one over the line,and then they can really go at the next few years.
“They just need to get the monkey off their back and it’s as easy as that, but we’ll see on Sunday.”