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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Vincent Whelan

David Clifford celebrates with his baby son after breakthrough All-Ireland with Kerry

What a day for Kerry supporters as their team brought an end to a relative famine by Kingdom standards.

They ran out four-point winners against a resolute Galway side largely thanks to a virtuoso display from David Clifford.

Their talisman finished the day with a haul of 0-8 which featured two marks and three frees as he almost single-handedly kept them in it during the first half when plenty of his teammates appeared to be struggling to get to the pitch of the occasion.

The 23-year-old put on a clinic overall as the game devolved into a mini-shootout between himself and Shane Walsh for long stages.

A couple of his points from play even included right-footers either from range or acute angles as he put the cherry on top of what will surely be a season that'll see him crowned Footballer of the Year (to go along with his Young Footballer of the Year gong in 2018).

Brother Paudie was also instrumental in the second half (©INPHO/James Crombie)
With parents Ellen, Dermot and sister Shelly (©INPHO/James Crombie)

His world has naturally changed in many ways in the four years since but none more so than the fact that he's now a father to young Ógie.

Himself and partner Shauna O'Connor welcomed their baby into the world last year in the days after their crushing All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tyrone.

And Ógie was on the Croke Park pitch this evening for what was a much happier visit to headquarters.

Previosuly, David told RSVP Magazine that Ógie being born so soon after such a heartbreaking loss gave him a welcome dose of perspective as well as distraction from football.

He said: "Becoming a father was a welcome distraction and it helped me to take my mind off football a small bit.

"It wasn’t hard to focus at all and if anything, the arrival of Ógie made me more focused because I was playing for someone else and not just myself."

Meanwhile in another interview he was quizzed on whether having a newborn ever led to him being a bit drowsy while rocking up to training.

He told Off the Ball: "No, we've been lucky like. He sleeps well. He's been unreal! So we haven't experienced the sleepless nights thank God so it's been unreal. No look, it's been great fun in fairness."

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