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Kerry cruise past Clare on emotional afternoon to land another Munster crown

Updated / Sunday, 7 May 2023 21:09

David Clifford starred with 2-06 as Kerry made easy pickings of Clare to win their 84th Munster title in front of 12,499 at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

In what was the first Munster SFC final to be played outside either Killarney or Cork in 11 years, Kerry led by 10 points at half-time – 3-08 to 0-07 - thanks to first-half goals from Tony Brosnan, Dara Moynihan, and David Clifford, before the Clifford brothers, David and Paudie, each found the net in the second half.

The game saw three Kerry players reach quarter-century SFC appearances as Sean O'Shea, Jack Barry, and Gavin White made their 25th Championship appearance in the green and gold of the Kingdom.

It was the 14th Munster final meeting between Kerry and Clare – the first since 2000 – with the Kingdom having won 13 of the Munster showdowns between the two counties since first meeting in Cusack Park in October 1912.

Before the game, a minute’s silence was held in memory of Ellen Clifford, the mother of David and Paudie, who passed away after a long-term illness on Saturday.

As expected, it was Kerry who got off to the brighter of starts, and after Sean O’Shea uncharacteristically kicked wide a close-range free after just 50 seconds, Dylan Casey – making his first Championship start – opened the scoring for the All-Ireland champions.

Inside just 10 minutes, Jack O’Connor’s men had opened up a comfortable three-point lead after Dara Moynihan, David Clifford, and Gavin White added to Casey’s early score either side of a Stephen Ryan free – a sign of things to come.

The game looked like it was Kerry’s to lose when Tony Brosnan finished off a lovely move from the Kingdom just shy of the 15th minute mark.

The move, one that will certainly have pleased O’Connor on the sideline, saw Dylan Casey link up well with David Clifford before the Footballer of the Year played a superb ball through to Brosnan, who blasted the ball into the back of the net.

Just four minutes later, Kerry were eight points to the good after Dara Moynihan linked up well with Paul Geaney before coolly slotting home to raise the green flag for the Kingdom for the second time.

Credit to Clare, Colm Collins’ charges never gave up and the Banner’s first point from play came in the 24th minute – Keelan Sexton found space to slot over his side’s first point in six minutes.

However, Kerry outscored Clare by 1-03 to 0-04 in the 11 remaining minutes of the opening half to bring a comfortable 10-point lead into the break, despite some fine free-taking from Eoin Cleary who had cancelled scores from Brosnan and David Clifford.

After jumping highest to collect a superb ball in by his brother Paudie, it was David Clifford who slotted home to raise the green flag for Kerry for the third time, three minutes before half-time.

After the restart, Kerry extended their lead to 12 points when David Clifford scored his second goal of the evening, and his side’s fourth.

The Fossa full-forward had all the time in the world to finish to the net after Tom O’Sullivan’s excellent handpass completely split the Clare defence.

After Clifford brought his scoring tally to 2-06 with a well-taken point, it was the older of the Clifford brothers, Paudie, who got in on the goal-scoring action to finish to net for the Kingdom's fifth goal of the evening. It was now a 16-point game.

Clare had two good chances either side of David Clifford’s goal but Shane Ryan superbly saved shots on target from half-time substitute Ronan Lanigan and Pádraic Collins.

Clare brought it back to a 14-point game in the end, but, in truth, it was Kerry outclassed their Munster counterparts to secure their 18th provisional since the turn of the century.

Kerry: Shane Ryan; Dylan Casey (0-01), Jason Foley, Tom O'Sullivan; Graham O'Sullivan, Tadhg Morley, Gavin White (0-01); Diarmuid O'Connor, Jack Barry; Dara Moynihan (1-01), Seán O'Shea (0-02, 0-01 '45), Paudie Clifford (1-00); Tony Brosnan (1-01), David Clifford (capt.) (2-06, 0-04f), Paul Geaney (0-01)
Subs: Killian Spillane (0-01) for Geaney, Stephen O’Brien for Moynihan, Brian Ó Beaglaioch for O’Sullivan (all 51 minutes; Barry Dan O’Sullivan for Barry, Mike Breen for Graham O’Sullivan (both 61 minutes)

Clare: Stephen Ryan (0-02, 0-02f); Manus Doherty, Cillian Brennan, Cillian Rouine; Ciarán Russell (0-01), Jamie Malone, Daniel Walsh; Cathal O'Connor, Darren O'Neill; Pearse Lillis, Emmet McMahon (0-04, 0-02f), Dermot Coughlan; Eoin Cleary (capt.) (0-06, 0-04f), Keelan Sexton (0-02), Pádraic Collins.
Subs: Ronan Lanigan for Manus, Brian McNamara for O’Connor (both half-time), Gavin Cooney for Coughlan (48 minutes), Ikem Ugwueru for O’Neill, Cian O’Dea for Collins (both 57 minutes)

Referee: Jerome Henry (Mayo)

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