Kerry have the best attack left in the championship - the rest is just pub talk

The 42

30-06-2025

AS THE KERRY team made their way out onto the pitch for the second half of their quarter-final win over Armagh, the RTÉ production team were sharp enough to spot that Paudie Clifford had been introduced, and stalked his every move as he circled round the pitch, getting in the zone.
On the coverage, Joanne Cantwell asked Lee Keegan if the introduction of the elder Clifford brother would alter the way Seán O'Shea plays; the Kenmare man having led the fight in the first half with a superb haul of eight points, boosted by a brace of two-pointers from play.
'It definitely adds something for David in particular,' said Keegan.
'We all know the connection that Paudie has with his brother… We always know Paudie's head's up and he wants to deliver ball inside.'
In the second play of the half, after Darragh McMullan stretched Armagh's lead to two, Paudie jinked into space away from Peter McGrane, playing a handpass forward to Joe O'Connor. His shot grazed the crossbar on its' way over for a point.
Paudie Clifford. James Lawlor / INPHO James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
Armagh enjoyed the next period of the game to go five points up before Joe O'Connor again answered back with a point. It was the 41st minute. A minute earlier, Ethan Rafferty was bouncing on the halfway line, looking for a defender to come back over halfway so he could be released to a right wing that was entirely emptied out.
But now he had more prosaic duties to attend to with a kickout. Paudie Clifford was on high alert around the top of the shooting arc, continually keeping an eye on the movement behind him.
Rafferty's intended target was Jason Duffy but there was no power in the kick. Clifford was instantly onto it, stealing the ball and giving it to his brother David for a hop, a solo and a kick from 45 metres that dropped short.
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After the next kickout, Joe O'Connor was bundled up by some Armagh bodies. Paudie managed to chip-pick the ball up and get it to safety. In the same play he kicked a ball inside. The move ended with a Seán ÓSé two-pointer.
Graham O'Sullivan won the next kickout from Rafferty, the ball was played inside to David who laid it off for Paudie to sell two dummies before kicking over.
Rafferty's next kickout was aimed at Andrew Murnin and too tight to the sideline that it went over. When Kerry got the ball back into play, Paudie was involved in the next play that ended with David Clifford's first two-pointer.
From four down to one up, Paudie Clifford's contribution was all over the Kerry team.
The game of Gaelic football, in its' current guise, may feel in the early stages of development more unpredictable than ever.
Wild momentum swings and leads being wiped out gives that feel.
There is a case to be made, however, that the game has actually become more predictable when you look at the variables.
And those are;
A) How little you can concede off your own kickout, and…
B) How much you can score off the oppositions.
At half time on Sunday, Armagh had won eleven of their own kickouts, Kerry had won ten. Armagh went in a point to the good.
After Paudie Clifford's intervention, Jack O'Connor had the luxury of sending on Micheál Burns in the 50th minute for Mark O'Shea, leaving Joe O'Connor to move to midfield while Burns took up his position tight to the Cusack Stand.
Paul Murphy had a free in midfield. He played it to Dylan Geaney who moved infield and handpassed to Burns. He took on Tiernan Kelly and sidestepped him to get a kick over the bar.
Rafferty's next kickout went over the Cusack Stand sideline. Burns took delivery and the move finished with a Brian Ó Beaglaoich point.
Raffery's next kickout was won by Joe O'Connor. Burns and Paudie Clifford were part of the next move that led to Gavin White's score.
Again a Rafferty kickout and Burns won it clean. He ran it close to goal, passing to Paudie Clifford who fisted it over the bar.
The next kickout had Graham O'Sullivan winning the break and a David Clifford point. All of a sudden, Kerry were eight ahead.
Burns won the next kickout after it flew over the hands of the intended target and after a long build-up, Graham O'Sullivan landed another point.
Even allowing for momentum switches, it felt the game was settled at this stage.
The thing is that Paudie Clifford took a while to come to the boil, only making his championship debut at 23 against Cork in 2020.
Burns is another interesting case. He was let go from the Kerry panel in 2024. He held his counsel until a podcast interview with Colm Parkinson when he said he never wanted to leave Kerry and his form for Dr Crokes in winning the county and Munster club competitions was so good that Jack O'Connor invited him back in. By then he won an AIB Club All-Star.
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It's difficult to know what to make of the assertion made in Joe Brolly's column that the Kerry public don't rate their own forwards. Perhaps it's pubtalk and hot air. More likely, something said with an air of mischief to provoke a bit of hop-balling in a certain atmosphere.
The two go way back to Jack's first year in charge of the county minors in 2014, when they won the All-Ireland beating Donegal in the final.
Either way, it's complete nonsense. Kerry could now conceivably head into an All-Ireland semi-final with the two Clifford brothers, Paul, Conor and Dylan Geaney, the majestic Seán O'Shea, Tony Brosnan and the worker bees in Micheál Burns, Dara Moynihan and Graham O'Sullivan all capable of adding points from play.
Is there a better attack left in the championship?
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