Cahair O’Kane: Why asking David Clifford to press is a road to nowhere for Kerry
NOTHING summed up pre-2025 football better than Peadar Mogan playing corner-back for Donegal.
Peadar Mogan is an exceptional footballer and an incredible athlete.
He is also no more a traditional corner-back than the man on the moon.
When his name is mentioned, my mind is always transported straight into MacCumhaill Park.
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If you’re looking at obvious Donegal man-marking solutions for Darren McCurry, the St Naul’s man is well behind his clubmate Brendan McCole on the list.
But that night, Mogan went in at corner-back and proceeded to spend 70 minutes running McCurry up and down the field.
It was sort of soul-destroying to watch a talented forward have to expend all his energy defending.
That was just one example. Other ones that spring to mind are the night Conor McCluskey ran off both Conor McManus and Jack McCarron all night in Omagh, putting Vinny Corey in a position where it became almost impossible thereafter to start the two men together.
The reason I go back to those days that were just before the rule changes is that David Clifford was the one exception to the rule.
It was never that Kerry spared him the work as such. It was that his own ability did it for him.
Teams briefly........
