Jack O'Connor has 'no idea' how David Clifford deals with weight of expectation
Clifford spent long spells out of the game, being man marked by Donegal's Brendan McCole, but he still finished with nine points from play.
The Fossa man's haul included three two pointers from play - and from a total of seven shots he hit the target six times.
Already a double Footballer of the Year, the 26 year old looks nailed on to land the biggest gong in Gaelic football for a third time.
O'Connor (64) also spoke about the aftermath of Kerry's All-Ireland round robin defeat by Meath, a time when 'life wasn't pleasant for me,' and addressed his own future, saying it could be his 'last hurrah.'
But, he was fulsome in his praise for Clifford, who was winning a second Celtic Cross.
The five-time All Star, who has a sixth in the bag, was criticised in some quarters for his display in the 2023 All-Ireland Final defeat by Dublin - unfairly in a lot of eyes.
That added to the pressure on him coming into his first final since then, but he fairly came up with the goods when it mattered most.
And now it seems certain he will go on to win more All-Irelands under the new rules.
'David has a unique temperament,' said O'Connor. 'He just takes it all in his stride. Of course he must have felt pressure and he knew he was going to get a lot of heat.
'But we spoke about it during the week and he said, look, if I'm double-marked and triple-marked, I'll just win it and slip it.
'He's humble enough to create scores for other people and he was a massive part of our win out there because he kicked two two-pointers.
'Particularly the one on the stroke of half-time was just inspirational for us going in. Just gave an extra pep in our step.
'But how he deals with the weight of expectation, I have no idea. He's a unique temperament.'
Despite Clifford's nine points from play the general consensus was that Kerry skipper Gavin White was man of the match with three points from the half back line and a series of assists and kickout wins, as well as setting up scores from both throw-ups.
A close second was Paudie Clifford, who the stats said afterwards handled the ball a remarkable 76 times, and orchestrated everything good about Kerry's clinical attacking play.
'Paudie is just coming back to himself after a long oul injury and we felt that he was coming good,' said O'Connor. 'He handled some amount of ball out there and he just calmed things down.
'A big part of playing Donegal is get value out of your attacks and don't turn it over. I think Meath found that out when they didn't work the Donegal defence. They just took pot shots from outside the arc, just looking for two-pointers.
'Now you take the two-pointers when they're on but you don't force them and you work their defenders.
'I thought we worked the Donegal defenders. That in turn takes away a bit of their legs for going the other way. I thought that was a big factor.
'I didn't think that the likes of Roarty, Mogan and McHugh had a big influence in that game - attacking-wise. I think a lot of that has to do with the patience we showed in the attack and keeping them occupied.'
O'Connor also spoke about the period after the shock All-Ireland round robin defeat by Meath at Tullamore, which meant Kerry didn't top their group and had to play a preliminary quarter-final.
At the time many locals were restless and some of the band of Kerry pundits not too happy either.
'The part that got brushed under the carpet was that we were down a pile of men going to Tullamore,' said O'Connor.
'I know I'm like a broken record, but I keep saying that Seán O'Shea was missing that day. He's a massive part of that unit out there because he just knits everything together. He does a bit of everything.
'He wins kick-outs. He tackles. He links the play. He sets up scores and he kicks scores and he organises for us. I know that's a lot of stuff for one man to do. So he's like the conductor of the orchestra on the field.
'That was the one week where I was really down before the game because I knew he was missing. So I wasn't overly surprised that we didn't play well up there.
'There was a lot of fall-out from the Meath game and life wasn't pleasant for me for a couple of weeks there. And maybe that was behind the bit of steam I left off here a month ago.'
Kerry went from barely shooting a two pointer in the League to racking them up when it mattered.
Yesterday they hit five, three from David Clifford and two from Sean O'Shea (both frees) and missed four more - from Paudie Clifford, Dylan Geaney, Mike Breen and O'Shea.
Donegal didn't manage any two pointers in the game, or any real goal chances, and had just three shots for two pointers in total.
So what turned it around on two pointers? 'There was a simple enough reason,' said O'Connor. 'Now, I'll tell you the truth. We played eight games in nine weeks in the League in bad conditions.
'There wasn't much time now to be working on two-pointers. You're basically recovering and doing a bit of fitness work and basic stuff.
'As soon as the League was over we went into a training camp and started working on the thing.
'Because there's a bit of an art in getting the right shooters on the ball at the right angles and coming on the right cuts and stuff.
'We didn't see a big need to work on it in the League because first of all we didn't have time to do it.
'Second of all, we were scoring goals which were camouflaging the fact that we weren't getting two-pointers. Simple as that.'
O'Connor quickly dismissed mention of previous All-Irelands being soft compared to this one, referring to the decider hammerings over Mayo in 2004 and 2006 on his watch for his first two Sam Maguires.
This time around Kerry defeated Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal en route to the biggest prize in the game.
'I'll tell you now, when we're looking back on the All-Ireland, there won't be any asterisks beside any of them,' he said. 'They're all of the same value, in my eyes anyway.'
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Irish Times
a few seconds ago
- Irish Times
‘Tough old year' ends sweetly for Kerry manager Jack O'Connor
At the end of a tough old year, the last word goes to Jack O'Connor . And if it is to be his last act as Kerry manager, as he intimated afterwards, it will be a sweet way to go. The sweetest. O'Connor entered the press conference room with the easy gait of a man released from the pressure of a difficult year in the trenches. He might be done with all of that stuff now. 'Well, all I know is I was going out the door Thursday evening with the bag and my missus took a picture of me going out the gate,' said O'Connor when asked if he will be returning to the Kerry sideline in 2026. His latest term is now up. 'I have a fair idea now that will be up on the wall as my last hurrah, I'd say now she'll be framing that one. READ MORE 'I think I was on record earlier in the year there that it would probably be my last hurrah, do you know.' This is O'Connor's fifth All-Ireland senior football triumph as Kerry manager; his first was achieved 21 years ago. 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Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho Before Jarlath Burns handed over the Sam Maguire to Gavin White, the GAA president lavished praise upon O'Connor – suggesting his achievements in leading Kerry to yet another All-Ireland now put him in the same bracket as the late Mick O'Dwyer. 'Sure the rest of us are only trotting after Micko,' said O'Connor later. 'He has created a great history and tradition in Kerry and the rest of us are only trotting after. 'Bit sentimental for me because I brought the cup to him and to his house in 2022 and we had a nice half-hour chat there, and there was a nice photo taken, so I treasure that because he was an idol of mine. As I say, he's created the history and the rest of us are only trotting after him.' All future Kerry managers will now be trotting after O'Connor too. He's played his part in the proud story of Kerry football. And so it was no harm before he trotted out of the press conference room that he was able to land a little dig at the noisy neighbours, too. 'Our mantra at half-time was we weren't going to collapse like we saw with the Cork hurlers maybe last week.' Ouch. And with that he was gone, five All-Ireland titles and all the doubters silenced. Not a bad way for a tough old year to end.
Irish Examiner
a few seconds ago
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Kerry's embrace of new rules helped them to collect 29th All-Ireland SFC title
All-Ireland SFC final: Kerry 1-26 (1-5-16) Donegal 0-19 (0-0-19) This, we should have seen coming. Kerry may be hierarchy but when it comes to new rules, they have been fleet of foot to embrace them. Fifty years ago, they won an All-Ireland with the allowance of the open hand-pass among other tweaks. When all hand-pass scores were banned a handful of years later, they sucked it in and were champions again. Their jubilee team celebrated before this final won in a year where substitutes were increased from three to five. Paul Geaney and Paul Murphy were around in 2014 when they last beat Donegal in a final to cap a season when the black card was introduced. You can have all your Jack O'Connor league All-Ireland double, lucky Hill 16 side dressing room and Kerry playing in blue piseogs but when the parameters of the games has shifted, so have they. 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'So it was around then that we started working on it and we didn't see a big need to work on it in the league because, first of all we didn't have time to do it, and second of all we were scoring goals which were kind of camouflaging the fact that we weren't getting two points or so. Simple enough, simple as that.' Donegal didn't look capable of scoring them and trying to claw back a seven-point half-time deficit without them their task was going to be onerous. Wedded to the system, they didn't help themselves either when most of Donegal was screaming out for Paudie Clifford to be shadowed. In performance and tactics, Kerry outclassed Donegal. Gavin White was a supreme leader, Paudie Clifford may as well have held a baton in his hand such was his influence and with yet another handsome haul David Clifford is line for a third footballer of the year award. Hugh McFadden had been withdrawn from the Donegal starting team in the hour before the game. 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Irish Examiner
a few seconds ago
- Irish Examiner
'We have to right the wrongs of last year' - Galway out to go one better against Cork in finale
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