Footballer of the Year David Clifford says analysing his "poor" 2024 season has allowed him come back an even better player after a season to remember for the Fossa star.
The 26-year-old won his second All-Ireland medal in July after arguably his finest season in green and gold, thriving in the freedom of the new football rules.
A championship tally of 8-62 amid some devastating Croke Park displays meant a sixth All-Star was inevitable at tonight's award ceremony, and finished the night with a third Footballer of the Year accolade.
Having seamlessly taken to senior football since his Kerry bow in 2018 after a decorated underage career, Clifford powered the Kingdom to Sam Maguire glory in 2022 and was further rewarded by being named best in class that year.
He repeated the award 12 months later, but 2024 was a disappointing campaign, with Jack O’Connor’s side coming unstuck in an All-Ireland semi-final against Armagh and Clifford himself never scaling the heights supporters have come to expect from the gifted forward.
After a slow start, Kerry kicked into gear at the business end of the season with Clifford at his ruthless best. Reflecting on being named Footballer of the Year for 2025, Clifford was asked if it was his best year to date in a Kerry jersey.
"Whatever about how well I played, this is a special one for me because I obviously won it in 2022 and 2023, but would have had a poor year then last year," he said.
"Being able to come back this year to some bit of form was important to me."
Did he feel he had something to prove?
"Definitely…that’s what Jack said to me anyway….that’s what we said to each other actually.
"We would have sat down in November, December and went through the reasons that last year didn’t go well, both for me personally and for us as a team, and why we didn’t get to where we wanted to go.
"I’m very grateful to Jack we had that chat. It allowed me to look back at myself and improve a few things."
Kerry's David Clifford has been named PwC 2025 Footballer of the Year.#rtegaa #gaaallstars
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) November 7, 2025
📺 @rte1 & @rteplayer https://t.co/PcEBDbw3yf
📱 Follow a live blog: https://t.co/SlV0oO8r9Y pic.twitter.com/RVd2IkYEsd
Those improvements were kept in reserve mainly for the knockout games. Cavan were taken for 3-07 in Killarney in a preliminary quarter-final before he unleashed his devastating best in Croke Park.
Armagh and Tyrone were unable to halt the Kingdom talisman, while in the showpiece he delivered a final masterclass despite not touching the ball for the opening nine minutes to finish with three orange flags.
Asked to specify what tweaks he made to his game following the 2024 post-mortem he said: "I wouldn’t have been in a great position fitness wise over the last couple of years. I wasn’t unfit, but I hadn’t really changed much as an athlete over a few seasons.
"Being able to have a break, and a good pre-season was important, to allow me bring a different dynamic to my game."
