David Clifford masterclass helps East Kerry to county SFC title

East Kerry 1-16 Mid Kerry 0-10

A masterclass from the Footballer of the Year David Clifford, with the Fossa man scoring 1-9 in a tour de force, has secured a third Kerry County SFC title in four years for East Kerry.

In a repeat of the 2020 final, which East Kerry won by 12 points, this was almost as comfortable a win for them over a Mid Kerry team that simply couldn't contain Clifford, his brother Paudie and all the other talent in Jerry O’Sullivan’s team.

Less than 48 hours after being named Footballer of the Year, and winning his fourth All Star, David Clifford and his All Star brother Paudie led the East Kerry attack, scoring 1-11 between them, though, inevitably the former had the lion’s share of it in a man of the match performance.

Indeed, it was David’s goal in the 45th minute that was the title clinching score, ending any remote hope Mid Kerry might have had of a late charge that would have delivered a first title for the district since 2008.

The goal was a highlight in an otherwise fairly mundane contest, such was the eventual winner’s complete control from start to finish, finally bringing to bear their strength in depth after unconvincing quarter-final and semi-final wins.

The game's only goal came from a slick move that saw the ball pass quickly through the hands of James O’Donoghue, Ruairi Murphy, Jonathan Lyne and Paudie Clifford before the elder brother teed up the younger brother to tap the ball to the net from five metres out.

If most of those names sound familiar it’s because all bar Murphy are All-Ireland senior title winners with Kerry, and the general expectation is that Murphy will be called in for a closer look in the coming weeks.

It was Murphy who got the game’s first score, a fifth minute point, and