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Is David Clifford The Best Footballer In The Country Right Now?

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regardless of age, experience and all the rest. in terms of sheer talent and footballing ability I think right now Clifford is ahead of anyone else. yes he may be young and may have plenty of time left and plenty of experience to be gained but what the lad possesses is second to none in my opinion, and to think he is only 20 and still able to have his name in the mix already is something special in itself. Top footballer and honestly as good as the likes of Murphy and Fenton etc are, they just don't possess the same skill set as David. boman11 (Antrim) - Posts: 237 - 22/07/2019 09:46:40 2214498 Link
Replying To westkerry: "To clarify you lads are making comparisons with a lad playing since 2007 and and 20 year old playing his second year." The question in the thread is whether David Clifford the best footballer in the country? Who else are we supposed to compare him to in order to figure out whether that's true or not? I don't think he is at the minute but if he stays injury free and doesn't go to Oz, I've no doubt he will be in the near future. JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 22/07/2019 09:55:19 2214509 Link
Replying To panamasam: "What about Oisin Gallen? Still under 20 next year and got difficult points off both feet in maximum pressure situations esp the one off the left. Plus was also central in the build up to penalty and botched goal immediately after. To think some Donegal posters thought he might not have made much difference for the under twenties against Fermanagh a few weeks ago." Yes have to say from a Donegal POV it is incredibly exciting to see young Gallen and the fearlessness he has. Both feet, no problem! And a bit of inventiveness with his passing too. I feel he has to start the next day out. JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 22/07/2019 09:58:01 2214510 Link
Replying To westkerry: "Yep thats 23 pal not 20. Im not questioning Murphy he is class, but he is also playing for a ling time. Clifford is a kid." Murphy was a star from the age of 17, let's see if Clifford has won Sam by the age of 23 as captain... not sure what point you're trying to make, they're both awesome players at different points in their careers Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1319 - 22/07/2019 10:02:49 2214514 Link
Replying To westkerry: "To clarify you lads are making comparisons with a lad playing since 2007 and and 20 year old playing his second year." Sure you're the one bringing up Murphy and comparing them! Lol Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1319 - 22/07/2019 10:03:26 2214515 Link
Replying To panamasam: "What about Oisin Gallen? Still under 20 next year and got difficult points off both feet in maximum pressure situations esp the one off the left. Plus was also central in the build up to penalty and botched goal immediately after. To think some Donegal posters thought he might not have made much difference for the under twenties against Fermanagh a few weeks ago." I had never seen young Gallen till yesterday and he's a fantastic talent, he seems to have the composure of a seasoned pro and very accurate off left and right. I think Clifford will have learned more from yesterday game then any game he has played in the past and that can only be good for him down the road. KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 22/07/2019 10:10:50 2214518 Link
Replying To Donegal_abroad: "Sure you're the one bringing up Murphy and comparing them! Lol" Responding to comments in the tread above, thats how threads work good lad. westkerry (Kerry) - Posts: 1250 - 22/07/2019 10:12:10 2214521 Link
Replying To Donegal_abroad: "Murphy was a star from the age of 17, let's see if Clifford has won Sam by the age of 23 as captain... not sure what point you're trying to make, they're both awesome players at different points in their careers" so if Clifford hasn't captained Kerry to an All Ireland by 23 he cant be the best? Ridiculous. boman11 (Antrim) - Posts: 237 - 22/07/2019 10:15:16 2214524 Link
Replying To KingdomBoy1: "I had never seen young Gallen till yesterday and he's a fantastic talent, he seems to have the composure of a seasoned pro and very accurate off left and right. I think Clifford will have learned more from yesterday game then any game he has played in the past and that can only be good for him down the road." Agree with you on that about Clifford. But I still think people are being harsh on him, from being in the stadium yesterday anyway the movement of the lad is out of this world, there were a few times my heart was in my mouth if only the Kerry player on the ball saw the pass into him. JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 22/07/2019 10:28:04 2214539 Link
Replying To westkerry: "To clarify you lads are making comparisons with a lad playing since 2007 and and 20 year old playing his second year." Clifford is a serious prospect but he has a lot to do to match Murphy. Apart from Murphys record and performances with Donegal he has also Captained his country to a series win at International rules games but his biggest accolade is that he also led a small club to their first senior county titles. It would be some achievement for David to Captain Fossa and lead them to a Kerry title at 22. EDH (Galway) - Posts: 367 - 22/07/2019 10:33:07 2214543 Link
Replying To JoeSoap: "The question in the thread is whether David Clifford the best footballer in the country? Who else are we supposed to compare him to in order to figure out whether that's true or not? I don't think he is at the minute but if he stays injury free and doesn't go to Oz, I've no doubt he will be in the near future." He's not going to Aus, he dreamed of playing for Kerry not playing that rubbish. westkerry (Kerry) - Posts: 1250 - 22/07/2019 10:34:02 2214544 Link
Replying To westkerry: "Responding to comments in the tread above, thats how threads work good lad." Yeah exactly, but you're getting agitated at any comparisons made of Murphy and Clifford at similar ages, yet you brought up the comparison in the first instance. Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1319 - 22/07/2019 10:36:13 2214546 Link
Replying To Donegal_abroad: "Murphy was a star from the age of 17, let's see if Clifford has won Sam by the age of 23 as captain... not sure what point you're trying to make, they're both awesome players at different points in their careers" My point is simple, Murphy is better because he has 12 years senior experience. He has been Donegals main man for years and rightly so. Clifford is a young lad only starting out so the comparisons are not fair. Wait and see this boy will be Kerrys greatest ever forward if he stays healthy. westkerry (Kerry) - Posts: 1250 - 22/07/2019 10:38:24 2214547 Link
David is brilliant But all teams eventually figure out talented players and that helps to limit their impact on a game He was a new talent last year and it's taken a wee bit but all teams will have ways of stopping him and Donegal did a good job limiting his impact. He still contributed with fine scores and link play and did well. But he's human and it's to be expected that talented defenders will limit him at times. It happens to all players, teams figure out your runs, what you do to make space, they'll have you worked out to the best of their ability and set out to stop you. Young David will be just fine. It happens to all talented players, let's just hope he doesn't have a media influenced campaign of cynical tactics aimed at him by household known prominent former players. jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20598 - 22/07/2019 10:42:04 2214550 Link
Replying To boman11: "so if Clifford hasn't captained Kerry to an All Ireland by 23 he cant be the best? Ridiculous." Nobody said that. You're saying that. I was responding to the Kerry man belittling Murphy! Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1319 - 22/07/2019 10:45:03 2214556 Link
Replying To Donegal_abroad: "Yeah exactly, but you're getting agitated at any comparisons made of Murphy and Clifford at similar ages, yet you brought up the comparison in the first instance." 20 and 23 is a big difference. westkerry (Kerry) - Posts: 1250 - 22/07/2019 11:14:02 2214583 Link
Replying To jimbodub: "David is brilliant But all teams eventually figure out talented players and that helps to limit their impact on a game He was a new talent last year and it's taken a wee bit but all teams will have ways of stopping him and Donegal did a good job limiting his impact. He still contributed with fine scores and link play and did well. But he's human and it's to be expected that talented defenders will limit him at times. It happens to all players, teams figure out your runs, what you do to make space, they'll have you worked out to the best of their ability and set out to stop you. Young David will be just fine. It happens to all talented players, let's just hope he doesn't have a media influenced campaign of cynical tactics aimed at him by household known prominent former players." Yeah people need to chill out with the lad, hes a fine talent and doing just fine. He has a good day and threads like this are started, he doesn't light up Croke park another week and hes not as good as the hype suggests. He will be grand. Hes not near the best forward in the country t the moment, hes not the worst either, many are doing more and better consistently, many are doing worse. He is developing nicely and the raw potential is there. The next stage of his development in going to have to be dealing with being double marked and off the ball stuff, worse players have conquered it, he will too, there is a team roll to that too. Other players need to eat up the space that creates and in fairness to Geany and Stephen O Brien and Sean O Shea, they made hay of the back of that space yesterday, so saying Croke Park ate him up and spit him out yesterday is very facile and poor analysis, others made hay of his back. My big fear for young David would be injuries to be honest rather then talent. TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 22/07/2019 11:15:51 2214584 Link
Clifford is the best footballer in the country by a mile. If yesterday was an off day got help any team when he's on song. There are different ways of measuring a 'great' footballer. Murphy is a class act. He has a leadership quality, build up and proven over a number of years that is very hard to match. He obviously backs that up with scores he gets and frees he nails but for me Clifford has a level of natural skill that is above and beyond that of any other footballer in the country. He also stands up and delivers under pressure in any match i've seen him play. Every time he gets the ball there is an intake of breath and anticipation about what he is going to do that, i don't think, any other forward in the country can match. For one of the points in the second half, such was the fear of the Donegal defenders, there were four of them trying to take the ball off him, he pops a simple pass out to O'Shea ( I think) for a simple score. You can't quantify that and how much it means to a team. LarryOBrother (Wexford) - Posts: 409 - 22/07/2019 11:36:12 2214597 Link
Replying To westkerry: "20 and 23 is a big difference." Grand. If it's such a big difference then we will wait till Clifford is 23 and see how he's getting on then, if he scores 1-3 in an AI final and captains Kerry. He may well do, and good luck to him. They're both great players, relax. Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1319 - 22/07/2019 12:32:57 2214636 Link
Replying To westkerry: "My point is simple, Murphy is better because he has 12 years senior experience. He has been Donegals main man for years and rightly so. Clifford is a young lad only starting out so the comparisons are not fair. Wait and see this boy will be Kerrys greatest ever forward if he stays healthy." You made the comparisons with Murphy at the start, so don't get upset at discussing it then. Crikey. Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1319 - 22/07/2019 12:34:13 2214637 Link