EDDIE QUINN WAS merrily driving along on Monday morning, full of the joys as he reflected on the previous weekend.
RTÉ Radio were doing their sports bulletin when presenter Darren Frehill mentioned how he had spent the previous day in the charming surroundings of Plunkett Park, Pomeroy for Kerry’s visit to Tyrone, and managed to grab a few seconds of an interview with the man of the moment, David Clifford.
And then it arrived, Clifford paid tribute to the club facilities and how well they had been looked after in the highest village of Tyrone. For Quinn, a former chairman of the club and one of the most dedicated club members who took such an active role in modernising the facilities, it meant a great deal.
Maybe there was something in what The Donald said; that when you are a star, you can do what you want. Well, no, not THAT.
But you can score a hat-trick of goals against Tyrone, nab two vital league points for Kerry and still be swarmed by the local kids in an act of hero-worship. Your compliments will warm the hearts of those who made it all happen.
It has been said at length, usually straight after a big day in Croke Park when the cameras were focussing on him pensively holding a calf that might be cramping up, that David Clifford needs a rest.
No. Like, really, really needs a rest.
But there was always a game for Fossa, or a game for East Kerry, or a pre-season ahead, or any amount of commitments rolling out in front of a young man with a whole lot of pressure, expectation and a young family.
At Pomeroy, Clifford made his first start in a major game of Gaelic football since 13 October last year. The occasion then was the county senior semi final, playing for East Kerry, against Dingle. His last involvement in normal time was to miss a penalty kick. They lost after extra time.
He was introduced in the second half against Dublin in Tralee last Saturday week and got his expected warm welcome back, but he was a peripheral figure, marked by Theo Clancy while Dublin had all the go-forward as they were assisted by a gale in that period.
The first score of the Tyrone game came when goalkeeper Shane Ryan handed Clifford a short hand pass. His first solo was loopy, but also put doubt in the minds of the defenders shadowing him; Peter Teague and Adrian Clarke.
Neither wanted to truly commit, so neither did anything beyond Teague’s late tug-back which wasn’t enough to stop Clifford breezing through the gap to open up his scoring.
His first goal shows just how hard it is to keep an eye on him. He drifted out towards the middle of the field looking to get on the ball in a deep position. His marker Peter Teague gave him a shove as he ran past the flow of play. Paudie Clifford picked up the ball. Teague had a glance at David.
The ball then bounced off Paudie’s heel and Teague didn’t quite reach the loose ball, but had another look behind his back and there was David. Paul Geaney picked it up and in one movement, handpassed it off to David who had ghosted into space to collect, thump through the covering tackle of Michael McKernan and drill low past Niall Morgan.
Clifford cannot be watched.
What surprised many at that point was how much Clifford relished the goal. Sure, there was no James Tarkowski knee slide or anything like that, but a two-hand fist pump, a small bit of an aeroplane followed by a pump of the right fist is well beyond the GAA house style of head-down-trot-back-into-position.
His second goal was another wonder. Brian Ó Beaglaoich either played a pass into Paul Geaney or it dropped short. Either way Geaney gathered the break and while he was stood up, Clifford came like a train, shaping to go right for a split second before going left to receive the pass, into a more congested spot.
Didn’t matter. He squeezed his shot beyond Niall Devlin, Niall Morgan and Conn Kilpatrick on the line. A more modest celebration this time, given that it only brought Kerry back to within four points.
His hat-trick goal – his second hat-trick of his career after the return from lockdown when they stuffed Galway in 2021 – brought them level. Paudie Clifford, in one of his 55 possessions – according to Kerry-based reporter Sylvester Hennessy – played forward to Conor Geaney, who laid off to Dylan Casey. Casey played to Clifford, who wrong footed a tackler with his bounce, before slamming home and giving it the full fist-pump and almost – almost – a high-knees. Given he was back on the pitch after a black card, it was a moment with all the feels.
Just the 3-3 from David Clifford on his first start of the season. 🔥 #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/BwsOUv7idp
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 24, 2025
Watching all this unfold was former Tyrone player Enda Kilpatrick, a Pomeroy player, manager and clubman, along with being a cousin of Peter Canavan.
In a county where they call his cousin ‘God’, he knows all about hero worship. But Clifford-Mania feels something else.
“I don’t like to use the simile, but it’s like a Premier League soccer player coming to your ground,” says Kilpatrick.
“But he deserves it because, number one, he is a great guy. And number two, he is absolutely fantastic. You cannot give him an inch.
“Petey Teague, I thought, did a right job on him yesterday, but he slipped three or maybe four times and there was three goals and a crossbar hit. You cannot slip for a second. Because it’s a goal.”
When it comes to seeing genius among them, the Tyrone crowd aren’t gawping mouth-breathers. The solo dummy has been passed down through the generations from Frank McGuigan to Peter Canavan and now his son Ruairí is making it his own. Then you have The Sean Cavanagh Shuffle. Tyrone have always had tricksters.
Clifford has created a whole new genre with his use of the bounce.
His bounce buys him space and time. His bounce shifts his weight from one foot to the other. His bounce can break the ankles of opposing markers or send them sprawled full length on the turf.
“You’d think players have watched that and are coached it,” says Kilpatrick.
“It’s a bit like Cavanagh showing to the left and going to the right. And still people always bought it. But you always fear they are going to commit to the first direction they turn.
“Clifford just is a genius and his brother Paudie is not far behind him.”
Now, to Pomeroy.
Home of 2021 Footballer of the Year Kieran McGeary, his brother Hugh Pat who is now on the Down squad, and Frank Burns, the club were county and Ulster intermediate club champions in 2016, beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final by Westport.
They were managed that season by Mark Harte who could claim some connection to the area, as his grandfather Peter was the sacristan in Pomeroy.
The club itself have the kind of digs that are, frankly, the envy of other counties. In recent years they have built a community hub at the grounds that caters for all sorts of activities.
While the game was going on, there was a children’s birthday party ongoing that was a long-standing booking. The Kerry and Tyrone players may have been amused as they made their way from changing room to gym for their final tune ups to look in at some pass the parcel or pinning the tail on the donkey. On a more sombre note, the building also is used for AA meetings as well as the usual round of Pilates and keep-fit classes.
After a week in Tyrone that was wetter than an otter’s pocket, the club received notice on Friday that they might be hosting the game. On Saturday morning, that came through, with Omagh waterlogged. The Pomeroy Plunketts WhatsApp groups lit up with calls for help.
The following morning, power washers were clearing off any loose stones on the terraces while vacuum cleaners roamed the carpets. There wasn’t a toilet bowl that was safe from strong bleach. Floors were mopped. The brass was polished. Car parking logistics figured out.
For Sunday, they found 100 bodies to put into hi-vis vests to work as stewards. 25 others were pressed into action doing tea, soup and sandwiches for the hungry hordes.
Part of why they were able to host it comes with the natural advantage. The pitch actually has no drainage, because, well, this is the highest village in Tyrone. Where else is the water going to go?
As it happens, the pitch markings were in good shape as they had it lined out that week.
Pomeroy are like any other Tyrone club; locked in a perpetual cycle of running draws, sending carloads of ticket sellers to every corner of the country to update their facilities.
Last summer they completed a draw that gathered enough money to finish the pavilion and put a new training pitch in place, bringing their number of pitches now to three.
In one corner of the ground, the TG4 camera picked up a decent-sized fast food shed. Entitled ‘JP’s Diner’ with a horseshoe symbol, this is what Pomeroy did with their share of the JP McManus donation to all GAA clubs. They spent the money on something to generate money as the cheeseburgers and chips fly out.
“JP was good enough to give us the money, so we felt we would be good enough to put his name on it.” Kilpatrick laughs.
Staging a game like this, in a venue as well appointed as this, feels like a breath of fresh air.
Look, we all have to live in the real world. County boards like uniformity, clarity and structure. County grounds usually come with a team of stewards who know their beat inside out, and people know the matchday routine.
But all the same, there is something about a Kerry team landing to a small village in the heart of rural Tyrone that, in time, will become part of the folklore of the place; the site of David Clifford’s hat-trick.
Truly, some days, the league really is just the league.
It was a surprise when “Eilo” was not kept on. Losing to Wales at homeQ Carla will have her work cut out with these egos.
She not just call her ‘eilo’ did she?? Cringe