David Clifford on form as IT Tralee stun Queen’s in their own back yard

We've never heard of this fella before.

David Clifford has left his distinguished imprint on the Sigerson Cup already, starring in their surprise victory over a fancied Queen's University side in the Dub on Tuesday. It's been a busy few days for the Fossa club man. He made his bow for the Kerry seniors on Sunday against Donegal in the National League in one of the most eagerly anticipated senior debuts in the GAA's history. The 19-year-old was man-marked, obviously, but he did just fine in the cauldron that is senior inter-county football. He set up Kerry's opening goal for Barry John Keane, he won a couple of frees and laid on a few assists. He looked right at home at the very highest level. It is often said that Sigerson Cup football is the next best thing to the inter-county game. David Clifford was born for these games. IT Tralee went into their opener against 8 time champions Queen's University as underdogs. They travelled all the way up to the Belfast Univerity's fortress that is the Dub as 9/2 outsiders. https://twitter.com/PaulMcIntyre14/status/958336310971895808 How could a team that has David Clifford in it be unfancied? The Kerry college got off to a flier in Queen's back garden, and took a four point lead into the half-time interval. 1-6 to 0-5 read the scoreline in their favour after 30 minutes of play. 1-4 of that total came from star turn Clifford. https://twitter.com/PaulMcIntyre14/status/958350224723992577 The hottest ticket in the GAA right now slotted three frees and kicked one from open play. He also fisted a game-changing goal into the net of Queen's goalkeeper Callum Mullan Young on the stroke of the break. https://twitter.com/MoysPhillyMc/status/958350452902555648 He was only getting going. Tralee were only getting going. That set them on their way. They have a number of quality players in their side, with Cork man Conor O'Driscoll showing well also. The home side rallied in the second half, and took over the lead for the first time with five minutes left to play. Then Tralee kicked into life, inspired by Clifford with the game in the melting pot. O'Driscoll was played through by the Kerry star and he rattled the net with the winning goal as they edged this one by three points. https://twitter.com/PaulMcIntyre14/status/958362412096344064 Some stuff. https://twitter.com/ITTraleeGAAClub/status/958363950118260736 Elsewhere, UL defeated Cork IT to book their place in a quarter final next week. UCC edged the Garda College, but only just. After some hard work, they took the tie by two points on a scoreline of 1-12 to 2-7.