He answered all his critics!
David Clifford produced another masterful display, as Kerry beat Donegal in the All-Ireland SFC final.
However, it was the team performance which was the crucial aspect their crushing, 1-26 to 0-19 victory, with outstanding showings from the likes of Joe O’Connor and Gavin White.
Boss Jack O’Connor had his side set up brilliantly to dismantle Donegal’s zonal marking tactics, and it gave him his fifth All-Ireland title as manager of the Kingdom.
Although, much of the talk heading into the game was centred around Donegal boss Jim McGuinness and how the much-lauded gaffer would mastermind a win for this side.
Speaking after the match, Clifford criticised the constant McGuinness talk and praise from the media and fans, believing it to be disrespectful to O’Connor.
He said: “You think about it all week. Over the last two weeks you’re waking up in the middle of the night thinking about it. When it’s here and it goes well, it’s such a good feeling…
“You could see Meath in the semi-final, they probably overdid it [the two-pointers]. I suppose the beauty of our setup, management team and the way we approach things, we let the forwards do as they want. We trust the forwards to make good decisions…
On the talk of him being the best ever, he said: “To be honest about it, I nearly take it as a hit . I think there’s people who say it and it might not be coming from the right place when they say it. I think they’re trying to build you up hoping that you will fail.
“That was a massive motivation for me today…
“He’s a winner. I don’t think Jack was happy with all the commentary around the Donegal manager and what he could do. I think there was a lot of disrespect in that for Jack.
“A lot of that was for him today.”
