Deep down, recalls Paudie Clifford, he always felt he had a "small chance" of following his brother David into Kerry's senior ranks.
Today, they provide a twin-pronged attacking threat for the Kingdom.
David, who celebrated his 23rd birthday last month, is the younger sibling - and currently the most celebrated player in the game, marrying silky skills with deadly intent.
Paudie turned 25 last October and it took him longer to make his mark.
"We’ve always been different players," said Paudie, referring to the brothers' styles. "We have different skills, different things that we’re good at.
"That would've never been a problem. I’ve always played a bit more out the field than him."
In terms of physique and playing style, Paudie is in the Paul Galvin mould.
"There would've been some similarities alright between me and Paul," he said. "He's a player I've always looked up to. I'm probably at my best when given more of a free role."
David was always a star in the making through the underage ranks. Paudie made the leap from junior level. It wasn't until last year that he established himself in the green and gold.
What the Cliffords share is the competitive edge that was honed at home from a young age.
"We were always just playing at the side of our house," remembered Paudie. "We have a decent enough size of a lawn, a wall, and a goal so just playing against each other for years.
"That’s how it all started. It being so competitive helped.
"You’re at an advantage having a brother similar enough in age - you can be challenging each other, making up different kinds of games to play."
They grew up in a football mad house. Their dad was a referee and the brothers helped out at games.
Paudie quickly realised why people described David as a special talent. "Yeah, from what he was doing for Fossa all the way up," he said.
"In primary school he was playing with our senior team while in second class. It was only a three teacher school, we were short numbers, but he was starting and playing well.
"When he was playing under-12 or 14, he put up massive scores. That was probably when people started to take notice and we started to realise he was going to be fairly good.
"We played down the divisions so it would was a bit easier, but there were big scores thrown in."
The brothers went in different directions. David's path was paved towards Kerry's senior set-up - he won two All-Ireland minor titles, in 2016 and '17.
A year later, on the same weekend that David scored a late goal against Monaghan in the Super 8s, Paudie won a junior All-Ireland with Kerry.
"David probably gave me the belief that I could (make it)," Paudie said. "I was thinking, 'If he's able to do that, I can play at a similar level'.
"I was trying to play as well as I could for the juniors at the time."
His mentality changed when he was a part of Billy Morgan's UCC set-up that won the Sigerson Cup.
"Billy gave me a chance," he said. "He gave me a lot of advice but let me do my own thing too. He was a great mentor and manager.
"The team was full of inter-county players. I realised maybe I can play at this level."
Clifford then suffered a bad ankle break and had to bide his time. He did a lot of gym work and speed work, his body developed. He was ready.
The rewards came last year, even if Kerry lost their All-Ireland semi-final to Tyrone.
He was outstanding in the Munster final and the Cliffords were the first brothers to win AllStars since 2007.
"I felt that if I could get in there I could let my football do the talking," added Paudie.
"There would've been days when I thought probably that I’d stop pursuing trying to play for Kerry.
"But deep down I always thought I had a small chance."
The last couple of years have been about reaching new levels for Clifford, but the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tyrone illustrated that Kerry have some way to go as a team yet.
He was on Conor Meyler, who had a stormer of a game as the Red Hands prevailed after extra time.
"He’s very impressive," he said. "He’s a tight marker but he’s very good on the ball so you have to be watching out for that as well.
"That was a massive challenge. But I’m looking forward to more challenges like that, maybe marking Meyler again at some stage."
It took Clifford until Kerry got back together for pre-season training to process the defeat.
"It was tough," he said. "Basically tough the whole time until we came back.
“We’ve identified a few things and we’re working away on them in the background. Small things, really.
"We’ve definitely identified a few problems and we’re working on them. I’m not going to go into specifics, there’s a few, but we’re working on them to try and get the edge this year."
Jack O'Connor's third coming as Kingdom boss has, on the basis of the first three rounds of the Division 1 campaign, brought a harder edge to Kerry's defence, something that O'Connor is renowned for.
"Jack has his own style, he’s a very good man-manager," Clifford remarked.
"Himself and Paddy (Tally) and the rest of the management team are doing great work and we’re enjoying the training sessions, which is the main thing.
"The defenders themselves are playing at a very high level and we are working on things all the time so we’ll be hoping we’ll be able to continue playing like that."
Is Clifford confident that this Kerry team can rise to the top? They are at the summit of the League table after a good start to the year.
“I wouldn’t say confident, we’re hopeful," he replied. "We know how competitive it is. I have never seen Division 1 as competitive.
"There are going to be no easy games and there are going to be no easy games come the end of the championship either.
“You are judged on winning All-Irelands but we are trying to shut down as much as we can and try to improve and every day we go out."
He smiles as he recalls his brother's important goal in last Sunday's victory over Donegal in a game played out in very difficult conditions, when David Clifford's mis-hit shot caught Shaun Patton off guard and the keeper fumbled into his own net.
"I've seen lucky goals alright from him but that was the luckiest alright," Paudie smiled. "It hit off his studs, I think!
"You wouldn’t mind the rain but the wind was crazy. It was tough to solo and with the wind it helped when you were kicking points - but when the ball was kicked in it flew in like a rocket so it was very tough to play in.
"Those sorts of battles make the team stronger."
Next up is a trip to Monaghan next Sunday.
"Going away to places like that, where you know it's going to be tough, is going to bring the team on," Clifford stated.
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