Clifford brothers star in Kerry’s Munster win 24 hours after the death of their mother

Kerry 5-14 Clare 0-15

A quietly surreal afternoon in Limerick. Kerry tidied away their 84th Munster title with the usual ease, picking Clare off early and often. They were six clear by the half-hour mark, had three goals on the board by half-time and never granted Colm Collins’s side so much as a backward glance. But even before a ball was kicked, it was clear the result was only ever going to be a detail.

The news had come through on Saturday evening of the death of Ellen Clifford, mother of Kerry stars David and Paudie. She had battled a long illness and had attended Fossa’s club final in January with the help of a palliative care nurse. With the end coming so close to a Munster final, the Kerry management left it up to the Clifford brothers themselves to play or not. Once they did, they were on the minds of most of the 12,499 in the Gaelic Grounds.

An hour before throw-in, the two brothers stood at the Ennis Road end watching Kerry play an intermediate camogie match against Clare. They had a gaggle of their team-mates around them, chatting away, passing the time.

Every once in a while, a local official or a photographer came over and said they were sorry for their troubles and the Cliffords picked a nod and a handshake off the pile of thousands they’ll give in the coming days. People didn’t want to intrude but they didn’t want to do nothing either.

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The stadium announcer knew his business too. As he read out the Kerry team, he left a pause after the Kerry number 12 so that the crowd could pay their dues to Paudie, then another after 14 so they could do the same for David. There was a burst of applause too when David came over in front of the stand to lead the Kerry team in the parade. The sense throughout was of a crowd that wanted to hug them close.

Once the game got under way, they wasted no time showing everyone why they wanted to play. Football is a haven, so they acted accordingly. Paudie put Dylan Casey away for Kerry’s first score, David did the same for Dara Moynihan soon after. By the 15th minute, each of Kerry’s four points had either been scored or set up by one of the Clifford brothers.

When Tony Brosnan skated in off the left wing and buried a goal after a neat one-two with Casey, it meant that Kerry were 1-4 to 0-1 ahead with just 16 minutes on the clock. There was going to be no surprise result. All that was left to keep an eye on was how much Kerry would win by and how the Cliffords would see out the day.

They were both terrific, as it happened. Paudie was his usual bath bomb, fizzing around the place, contributing at both ends of the pitch. The move that led to Brosnan’s goal had begun away back in the Kerry goalmouth, with Paudie intervening to cut out a dangerous Clare attack and win a free.

As for his younger brother, David Clifford was his normal ruthless self. He jitterbugged here and there behind his marker Cillian Brennan, keeping the Clare full back turning and guessing and wishing for the final whistle. He got his first goal just before the break, heel-digging in behind to collect a fine pass from Paudie and put Kerry 3-8 to 0-5 ahead.

He tacked on his second five minutes after the restart, checking back inside Brennan to grab a Tom O’Sullivan pass and finish high past Stephen Ryan. Three minutes later, Paudie got in on the act, steaming on to a Seán O’Shea lay-off 20 metres out and finding the bottom corner to put the champions 5-9 to 0-9 up.

“I want to play tribute to the strength of character Paudie and David Clifford showed today,” said Munster chairman Ger Ryan as he began the presentation afterwards. It got the warmest applause of the day.

Then he turned and handed the cup to David, who lifted it and walked off down the steps, spared the duty of making a captain’s speech. As he walked down the sideline, a few stewards kept him company so that he wouldn’t be swarmed by autograph hunters and well wishers.

And just as he came to the tunnel to head to the dressingroom, Paudie caught up with him and they put an arm around each other. Brothers in victory, brothers in loss.

KERRY: Shane Ryan; Dylan Casey (0-1), Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan; Graham O’Sullivan, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White (0-1); Diarmuid O’Connor, Jack Barry; Dara Moynihan (1-1), Sean O’Shea (0-2, one free), Paudie Clifford (1-0); Tony Brosnan (1-1), David Clifford (2-6, four frees), Paul Geaney (0-1).

Subs: Killian Spillane (0-1) for Geaney, Brian Ó Beagaloich for T O’Sullivan, Stephen O’Brien for Moynihan (all 51 mins); Barry Dan O’Sullivan for Barry, Mike Breen for G O’Sullivan (both 60).

CLARE: Stephen Ryan (0-2, two frees); Manus Doherty, Cillian Brennan, Cillian Rouine; Ciarán Russell (0-1), Jamie Malone, Daniel Walsh; Cathal O’Connor, Darren O’Neill; Pearse Lillis, Emmet McMahon (0-4, two frees), Dermot Coughlan; Eoin Cleary (0-6, four frees), Keelan Sexton (0-2), Podge Collins.

Subs: Brian McNamara for O’Connor, Ronan Lanigan for Doherty (both h-t); Gavin Cooney for Coughlan (48); Ikem Ugwueru for O’Neill, Cian O’Dea for Collins (both 56).

Referee: Jerome Henry (Mayo).