David Clifford shines as Kerry footballers live and are let die

Kerry 3-25 Kildare 2-16

Never in the history of Kerry football – and no lesson required – has their championship fate unfolded like this: they lived and were let die, their season ended not just on the lonesome whistle here but also after happened elsewhere.

Because on that whistle, all eyes and ears in Killarney turned to what had unfolded at the same time up in Salthill, where Monaghan beat Galway – on double scores – in the other final Super-8s game in Group 1: that sent both teams through in next weekend’s All-Ireland semi-finals, no matter what Kerry raged against here.

They easily improved the scoring difference by the necessary five points to give themselves some chance, but it was much, too late: the game ended with a strong sniff of dead rubber and some dead print too.

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Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice stepped down following the match – his earliest exit in the championship since taking charge in 2013; because this was a team, however young, that come into the summer with high expectations. Things have dropped considerably on that front.

Kildare came to Fitzgerald Stadium with nothing left to play, and made a game of it for the first half at least, before losing to Neil Flynn to red card; they lost another at the end, defender Mick O’Grady, but by then the fate of the game was already decided too.

In front of a home crowd out in force, left slowly and distinctly muted – at least those with one ear on events in Salthill – Kerry only played as it their season was on the line in patches. The only lasting feature was 19 year-old David Clifford reinforcing what everyone already knew already.

Finishing with 2-6, 1-5 from play, Clifford lifted Kerry throughout – just like he did in salvaging the draw against Monaghan, and in the defeat to Galway in round one. Sean O’Shea, also only 19, finished with 0-5 and his future shines equally bright but by Kerry standards things were still ordinary.

That’s because once Kildare lost Flynn, who kicked a brilliant 1-3 in the first half to help push them into a four-point lead, the spirit was taken out of the team, as well it might. They lost full back David Hyland to a black card just before half-time too, and that absence showed through the second half, when they went 20 minutes minute period with a score.

With the extra man, and extra motivation, Kerry duly took Kildare apart in the second half. Clifford’s penalty on 23 minutes, after David Moran was pushed in the back in front of goal, kept them in touch, and it took Kerry 26 minutes to get their noses in front for the first time.

Still Kildare up four points at the break, 1-12 to 1-8 – were undone within the first three minutes of the restart, and then ripped apart: first Clifford waltzed in for his goal, gifted by the Kildare goalkeeper Mark Donnellan. James O’Donoghue came on for Kieran Donaghy and scored 1-2, his goal on 46 minutes coming after a neat solo, and others too such as Jack Barry and Paul Geaney chipped in with trying too hard

In the end, Clifford took his Super-8s tally to 4-13, putting himself in line for an All Star. “We all managed to put our shoulders to the wheel when we wanted too,” said Clifford, the Fossa man winning the man-of-the match, “and maybe that’s something maybe we can take out of the season.”

But that’s it: Kildare losing Flynn on 34 minutes, for a messy slap more than a strike on Killian Young, down along the left sideline (Daniel Flynn already absent for a red card against Galway), took the life out of the game. What happened up in Salthill also took the life out of Kerry’s season. All of which makes for a long winter in the Kingdom.

KERRY: 1 B Kelly; 2 J Foley, 3 P Crowley, 4 T O'Sullivan; 5 P Murphy, 6 K Young, 7 G White (capt); 8 D Moran (0-1), 9 J Barry (0-3); 10 M Burns (0-2), 11 S O'Shea (0-5, three frees, two 45s), 12 S O'Brien (0-1); 13 D Clifford (2-6, one penalty, one free), 14 K Donaghy (0-1), 15 P Geaney (0-2, one free).

Subs: 19 J O’Donoghue (1-2) for Donaghy, 18 K McCarthy (0-1) for Young (both half time), 23 D O’Sullivan for Burns (57 mins), 24 T Morley (0-1) for Foley (58 mins), 21 A Maher for O’Shea (66 mins), 20 B Begley for White (69 mins, inj).

KILDARE: 1 M Donnellan; 2 P Kelly (0-1), 3 D Hyland, 4 M O'Grady; 5 J Byrne (0-1), 6 E Doyle, 7 K Flynn (0-1); 8 K Feely (0-3, all frees), 9 T Moolick (0-1); 10 F Conway, 11 P Cribbin (1-5), 12 K Cribbin; 13 N Flynn (1-3, two frees), 14 N Kelly (0-1), 15 P Brophy.

Subs: 17 C Healy for K Cribbin (26 mins), 18 J Murray for Hyland (half-time, black card); 21 C McNally for N Kelly (47 mins), 19 E Callaghan for Conway (52 mins), 20 F Dowling for Moolick (55 mins), 22 M Hyland for P Kelly (61 mins).

Referee: Derek O’Mahony (Tipperary)