Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
THE most talked about footballer in the country turns 21 today and what a special gift he received two days in advance when he was named captain of his county team.
David Clifford comes of age this Wednesday but celebrations will be put very much on hold as he leads the Kingdom into a new National League campaign with a glamour opener against All-Ireland champions Dublin in Croke Park on Saturday night.
The brilliant attacker, who made his senior championship debut for Kerry in 2018, having made an incredible mark at minor and colleges level, has developed into the most exciting talent in the game with supporters willing to pay at the turnstiles just to see him in action.
He was always destined for the top, excelling right through the juvenile ranks and becoming the stand-out minor star of his generation, making the team at the tender age of 16.
Clifford’s swashbuckling style, his brilliant reading of the game and his uncanny ability to pick off an unlikely score or set up the perfect pass is a joy to witness and the most exciting aspect of it all for Kerry fans is that the best has yet to come.
A final year sports science student at IT Tralee, with plans to study PE teaching in UL, he has already won two Munster Championship medals and two All-Stars and he was Young Footballer of the Year in 2018.
And although his club, Fossa, ply their trade in Division 4 of the Kerry County League, their star player has an opportunity to test himself against players of a higher calibre when he lines out with the East Kerry divisional side he inspired to a Kerry senior football championship crown last season.
Delighted to accept the skipper’s role on the week of his special birthday, there was never any danger that the accolade would go to his head.
“There are plenty of leaders in the Kerry dressing room. They will keep doing what they’re doing. It won’t change too much,” he said.
“It’s a great honour for me, especially for my family and the club. Hopefully, we will have a long year ahead,” he added.
Kerry manager Peter Keane said he expects the rising star to continue where he left off in 2019.
“We are happy that he is captain and we wish him and his family well, his dad Dermot and mother Ellen. They are all obviously looking forward to it,” Keane remarked.
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