Tralee IT manager Liam Brosnan has said that David Clifford’s hamstring injury was inevitable given the fact that he played three games in just seven days.
The minor superstar played a full game in Kerry’s opening league win over Donegal on Sunday, January 28, before togging out in IT Tralee’s win over Queen’s University Belfast on Tuesday, January 30, where he played a full game again, before eventually coming off after 17 minutes with a hamstring complaint against Mayo last weekend.
The injury against Mayo ruled Clifford out of Tralee IT’s Sigerson Cup quarter-final defeat to DIT at Austin Stack Park on Tuesday and Brosnan said that the injury was inevitable given his workload.
“It was unfortunate but it was bound to happen, the writing was on the wall,” Brosnan told Radio Kerry’s Terrace Talk.
“A young fella’s body can’t take that much and the travelling then as well. He had to travel up the Belfast, six hours up, six hours down, travel up to Mayo. It’s something which is a wider issue.
“The problem we have now with David Clifford is that everybody wants him.”
Brosnan added that the college were considerate of Clifford’s workload and sat down with the Fossa forward last year to discuss how they were going to manage his schedule.
“We sat down with David at the start and I didn’t want to see him at training. We got David for one game in late November against Trinity. We saw David then last Wednesday (victory over Queen’s).
“So the IT was very fair to David. We know what David can bring to the table so we don’t want to be putting him under any pressure.”
Tomas Ó Sé, speaking to RTE’s Morning Ireland last month, said that Kerry have to be patient in managing their next generation of players.
“A lot of people weren’t happy at the way Kerry exited the championship last year against Mayo, so we need to blood some of these youngsters now,” said Ó Sé.
“We have to be patient. Eamonn Fitzmaurice has to be patient, even the likes of David Clifford has to be patient.
“I would also look at the likes of Sean O’Shea, Jason Foley, Shane Murphy in goal and Jack Barry. So there, you have a third of a team that could put up their hands for championship football.
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