STILL KERRY’S KING

- David Clifford voted fan’s Player of the Year in end of season survey

- Mood amongst supporters remains positive despite Dublin defeat

David Clifford has been selected as the Killarney Advertiser Kerry Player of the Year following an excellent season in which he led his team to another All-Ireland final.

Clifford’s year ended in disappointment as he missed some late shots in last Sunday’s defeat to Dublin in Croke Park but, in our end of season survey, supporters still singled the Fossa man out as the side’s standout performer in 2023.

The 24-year-old received 87% of the Player of the Year votes, with Shane Ryan, Paudie Clifford, Diarmuid O’Connor and Jason Foley splitting the majority of the remainder.

The Kerry captain also earned the Individual Performance of the Year accolade for his showing in the memorable All-Ireland semi-final victory over Derry. Clifford scored nine points against the Oak Leaf County, including four from play, one mark, and four frees. He received 48% of the votes in this category.

Diarmuid O’Connor’s heroic display against Tyrone in the quarter-final was selected as the second best performance by a Kerry player (29%), while Paudie Clifford’s efforts against Dublin were worthy of a third place finish (11%). Shane Ryan’s performance versus Mayo in Killarney came fourth.

Unsurprisingly, the 12-point victory over Tyrone was chosen as the Best Team Performance of the Year. Seánie O’Shea’s goal in that match – a composed finish following an outrageous pass by Clifford and an assist by Tony Brosnan – was voted as Kerry’s Goal of the Year.

Mood

We also attempted to gauge the Kerry public’s mood after a rollercoaster season that eventually saw the team fall agonisingly short of their ultimate goal.

When asked to rate their satisfaction with Kerry’s year, 57% of supporters said they are ‘satisfied’ with a further 10% stating that they are ‘very satisfied’.

Exactly 20% are on the fence – ‘neither satisfied nor dissatisfied’ – with only 12% saying that they are ‘dissatisfied’. A very small percentage – less than 1% - are ‘very dissatisfied’ with how the season panned out.

Jack O’Connor and his coaching staff are expected to stay on board for next season and according to our survey, Kerry supporters are more than happy for that to happen. Over 82% of those polled are either ‘satisified’ (51.8%) or ‘very satisfied’ (30.3%) with the current Kerry management team, while a small minority are either ‘dissatisfied’ (5.7%) or ‘very dissatisfied’ (1.3%). The rest (roughly 11%) have no strong feelings either way.

Judging by the results of the survey, the mood is happier than it might usually be the week after an All-Ireland defeat, perhaps because fans are optimistic of seeing better days sooner rather than later.

The results of our poll have revealed that almost 85% of Kerry supporters believe that Sam Maguire will return to the Kingdom in 2024.

Homecoming

Speaking at the team’s homecoming in Killarney on Monday, O’Connor said his team would be “back again with renewed determination next year”. When his turn to speak came around, Clifford apologised to O’Connor and co. for not getting the job done, before also looking ahead to next season.

“[We’re] very sorry to ye that we weren’t able to deliver yesterday, but hopefully we can continue to build on this and go and right the wrongs next year.”