Inside Track: Clifford doesn’t have to be on the ball to do damage

The TV commentator said several times during the Kerry and Armagh quarter-final that David Clifford had been quiet in the opening half.

Maybe in terms of scoring, but according to a chap I was talking to, he was as busy as ever.

Yes, the No. 13 got more scores after the break and was often in the thick of things, as Kerry first of all dismantled the Armagh lead and then sprinted clear. But away from the camera, his contribution had been every bit as valuable.

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My man was in the lower deck of the Cusack Stand, close to where Clifford was operating. So intrigued was he with the star man’s movement, most of what happened elsewhere almost passed him by.

“He didn’t need to be on the ball. Even when play was the far end of the field, he was on the move, attracting the attention of more than just his marker.

“When Kerry were on the attack, he mightn’t touch the ball, but was still the one the backs were eyeing up. This created space for the others, and Seán O’Brien was the one to benefit most,” he said.

O’Brien ended the day as top scorer with a dozen points, and got the man-of-the-match award. Clifford upped his scoring rate in the second half and was more visible to us looking in on television.  

Taking into account what the Cusack Stand seat-holder had to say, this was a day when the big man’s contribution was about more than goals and points. But just to remind us that he’s not too bad at hitting the target, he came in with 1-9 in the semi-final win over Tyrone.

Solving a problem like Clifford has, no doubt, been occupying a lot of Jim McGuinness’s attention since his team qualified for Sunday’s All-Ireland final with that 20-point semi-final rout of Meath.

The Donegal boss is one of the shrewdest in the game, a deep thinker who pays as much attention to the opposition as he does his own team. And he’s never short of a plan.

Okay, so he was the first to take a bus onto the field, his plan for the 2011 semi-final with Dublin contributing handsomely to a match that was then, and since, described as ‘infamous’, ‘awful’ and other uncomplimentary words.

Donegal lost that day by 0-8 to 0-6, but far from lying down under a welter of criticism which followed, McGuinness regrouped, tweaked one or two things, did a lot of talking, and had his troops back at headquarters the following year.

It was a glorious return, Donegal first of all beating Kerry, then Cork, and in the final, Mayo. The Sam Maguire was back in the north-west for only the second time.

Clifford and Kerry, McGuinness and Donegal. That’s only part of what Sunday is all about. Jack O’Connor will be on the line with Kerry, while Donegal will have Michael Murphy on the field.

If Clifford is Kerry’s trump card and O’Connor knowing all that’s to know about winning All-Irelands, Donegal are not lacking in leadership nor short of a talisman in a jersey.

Murphy had been two years out of inter-county football when McGuinness, who had only returned to management himself, gave the big man a call.

‘Your county needs you’, may have what McGuinness said, and maybe added, ‘there are new rules in place and they should suit you’.

There was nothing Murphy needed to be told about the changes – he was on the Jim Gavin committee that constructed them.

Anyway, the survivor of the 2012 team, now well into his 30s, got back in the inter-county groove and has been more than a bit-player in Donegal’s charge through Ulster, and since then, a trouble-free passage to the competition’s final stage, claiming a win over Louth along the way. He has a huge part to play on Sunday.

It should be an intriguing battle, Donegal’s approach only slightly different than Kerry’s. The Ulster side like to play it across the field, but like their opponents, will run directly at the defence when the opportunity arises.

Given all the awards he has won in recent times, All-Stars, Player-of-the-Year and so on, it’s a surprise that David Clifford has tasted All-Ireland senior success just once. He might just double his tally on Sunday.