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19th April 2024
04:13pm BST
The fear regarding David Clifford, whenever he burst onto the wider GAA scene as a star of the Kerry minors, was that an Aussie Rules side might come to lure him Down Under.
Judging by a latest skills challenge video, NFL scouts may yet pop him on their radar.
We recently had the likes of established GAA stars, Charlie Smyth (Down), Mark Jackson (Wicklow) and Rory Beggan (Monaghan) heading over to America to take part in the NFL Combine and Pro Day, as part of the league's International Player Pathway program. That program ended up leading to deals for Smyth (with New Orleans Saints) and Welsh rugby star, Louis Rees-Zammit (Kansas City Chiefs) and may yet result in offers for Jackson and Beggan.
The Clifford brothers, David and Paudie, are dialled in for a crack at another All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, with Kerry, this year, but they took some time out to see if they could master some tricky American football challenges.
Later this year, the American football teams from Georgia Tech and Florida State will face each other in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. To celebrate the upcoming match, which will see former Kerry Minor David Shanahan represent Georgia Tech, Kerry, the game’s official partner, decided to put a number of Gaelic football players to the test.
In this short video (below), David Clifford, Paul Clifford, Séan O’Shea, Shane Ryan, Tadhgh Morley and Gavin White channelled their inner quarterbacks and dived headfirst into the American football experience. They took part in a ball-throwing test, a kicking accuracy test and, finally, a catching test.
When the final scores were tallied, thanks mainly to steady throwing skills, the Cliffords were top dogs:
The crew from The Kingdom gave it a good shake, but we reckon some other inter-county sides would fancy topping those final scores.
Kerry Group, who are celebrating all things Kerry ahead of David Shanahan’s return to Irish soil later this year. Kerry, which started off as a small company in the Southwest of Ireland, is now a global multinational, that takes tremendous pride in its rural origins, as well as its mission to create a world of sustainable nutrition and products that are tastier, healthier and more sustainable for the global food and beverage industries.
To buy tickets for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, follow the link right here.
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