Former Dublin midfielder Ciaran Whelan has described the pressure on Kerry ace David Clifford heading into last Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC final as “off the charts”.

The Kingdom captain wasn’t at his brilliant best as his team went down in a two-point defeat that saw Dublin landing a 31st Sam Maguire Cup triumph.

Speaking on the RTE GAA podcast this week, Whelan said that the bar is set remarkable high when it comes to the expectations on the Fossa sensation.

"I’ve reflected on it the last couple of days, the pressure on that kid is just off the charts. The weight of expectation that he carried into the final, it doesn’t even bear thinking about,” he stated.

"He was fantastic all year. His contribution in the final – Paul Mannion was ‘Man of the Match’ and he got four points – and the narrative coming into the final was if Dublin keep Clifford to four or five, they’d be doing well.

"He got three, he was involved in an assist and set-up 1-2 directly. Mick Fitzsimons made it difficult for him, no doubt about it and couldn’t have done any better in putting him under pressure.

"Maybe he forced him into quicker shots than he would have liked. One or two of them on another day could have gone over."

Tweet

Most Read Stories