Marked-man David Clifford comfortable with burden of Kerry hopes

David Clifford is getting used to being a marked man.

The Kerry star - widely recognised as the best forward in Gaelic football at just 23 years old - was double-teamed against Cork, who held him to just one point from play in last weekend's Munster SFC.

But the Fossa man is happy to accept fewer scoring chances if the result is the opposition leaving team-mates open.

"Certain teams are going to have their styles," he told RTÉ Sport.

"Obviously, it's going to be a bit more open some days. But trying to find ways around the plus-one [defender] or plus-two is a good challenge, and it's something I haven't fully cracked yet, so it's nice to keep working on that.

"We'll try and find ways. It's just important to try and keep working towards getting around that."

Aside from legal means of disruption has he had anyone trying to get in his head?

Mayo's Padraig O'Hora insisted this week that there was no 'sledging' involved in the players' much-highlighted Allianz Football League Division 1 final confrontation.

"In fairness, I haven't had anything like that," said Clifford. "Defenders are defenders. They are going to try and get an edge."

The Rebels, who stunned Kerry in 2020, also restricted Clifford to just one free last year - but the end result was the same, albeit an 11-point victory this year rather than the 22 points of 2021.

"I suppose I've missed a few goal chances against Cork the last few years," he reflected.

"But sure look, that just comes with the territory. That's football. It's always been a tough challenge against them.

"It was a tough battle. It was exactly what we expected from Cork.

"In 2019, we had a massive test with them as well. Obviously they pipped us in 2020. We're well aware of the challenge they bring, and again