Paudie Clifford following his own path but sibling rivalry still plays key part

He’s been hailed as the new wonder of Kerry football, capable of dazzling skill and startling quick movement and sheer genius in front of goal – scoring not once but twice off his head over the years just for the fun of it.

But we’re not just talking about David Clifford here are we

Because whatever about their undoing in the All-Ireland semi-final to Tyrone, last year will be fondly remembered in Kerry for the arrival of his big brother Paudie. In his first full season as a Kerry senior, he finished up with his first All Star, suitably named among the forwards alongside David, who picked up his third award.

It was the first time since 2007, when they won back-to-back All-Irelands, that a set of Kerry brothers were recognised – the trio of Darragh, Marc and Tomás Ó Sé.

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Speaking from Kerry via Zoom to launch the football tournament named after their uncle – Comórtas Peile Páidi Ó Sé taking place in Ventry this weekend – it appears Paudie doesn’t particularly enjoy being compared to anyone, least of all his little brother.

Of course it’s only natural: they grew up in the same household in Fossa, just out the road from Killarney, both not just learning their skills and tricks and other delicacies of the game but jauntily trading them too.

“We were always playing out the side of the house,” he says. “We’ve a decent enough size of a lawn, and a wall and a goal. So we’ve been playing against each other for years, that’s how it all started. It being so competitive probably helped.

“You’re at an advantage there, having a brother who is similar enough in age where you can be challenging each other, making up different games to play against each other, that helps.”

Paudie is just two and a half years older, now 25; David turned 23 last month. The obvious difference is the time it took to break on to the Kerry senior team, David getting that chance at age 18, in 2018, after winning two minor All-Irelands in the years before.

He is honest and astute about their different paths, any sibling rivalry too. David may have been lauded from a younger age, only that was never a source of envy, and still isn’t.

“I’m trying to do my own thing, he’s doing his own thing. We’ve always been different players, different skills, different things that we’re good at. So that’s never been a problem, I’ve always played a bit more out the field than him as well.

“And I wouldn’t say there was any pressure, because if it wasn’t intercounty football I was playing, I’d be doing other things, it wouldn’t be the end of the world either.

“We’ve a good relationship, we’re good friends. We’d just hop ideas off each other when it comes to football, things like that. Him doing well that probably gave me belief all right; if he’s able to that, I’d be able to play at a similar level, I was hoping.”

Not that Paudie was a stranger to the Kerry football scene in 2018: that same summer David was making his championship debut, Paudie was winning an All-Ireland Junior football title with Kerry.

He is honest about that period, particularly any suggestion he should have been on the senior panel by then too: “At that stage, probably not. It would have been a year or two after I might have felt that way. At that stage I wasn’t on the radar because I hadn’t done enough, in fairness, at that stage. It was just my development. I did a lot of gym work, speed work as well, that was the big thing.”

Like his brother he also dabbled in soccer, with Killarney Athletic, only not with any great expectations there. Clifford’s performances in 2019 with UCC, helping them win a Sigerson Cup under former Cork manager Billy Morgan, unquestionably developed him further, only for a bad ankle break shortly after to set him back.

“After winning the Sigerson in 2019, that might have been the chance to break in. Billy Morgan gave me a chance with UCC, gave me lots of advance. It was also my first time playing with a lot of intercounty players, from Cork, Clare, Tipp and Limerick, Kerry too, so I learned a lot off of them, realised maybe I can play at this level.”

By then the likes Tomás Ó Sé had already identified Clifford as one to watch; former manager Peter Keane did bring him on in the shock 2020 Munster semi-final defeat to Cork, deep into extra-time. Still Clifford never gave up hope.

“Deep down, I always thought I had a chance. There would have been days all right when I thought I’d stopped pursuing trying to play for Kerry. I felt if I could get in there, I could let my football do the talking, I had that in the back of my mind.”

Inevitably the talk shifts back to David, or at least any tell-tale signs of the always being there.

“Yeah, from what he would have been doing for Fossa, all the way up. In primary school he was playing with our senior team, and he was still in second class. It was only a three-teacher school, and we were short numbers, but he was starting and playing well. When he was playing under-12, under-14, he would have been putting up massive scores. That’s when people started to take notice, and we started to realise he was going to be fairly good.

Working in Killarney with Red Chair Recruitment, he reckons his best position is essentially a “free role”, and there is no sixth sense between the brothers either: “I’d hope to have a similar understanding with the other forwards that are there, from working at training every night like that.”

Paudie also confirms he has indeed scored a goal from a header, twice, the second with UCC in the 2019 Sigerson Cup: “I’d scored a header before, in a club game, and the manager actually lost the plot. But Billy Morgan didn’t say anything.”

Perhaps just recognising the sheer genius it was.