David Clifford wreathed Croke Park in glory once again yesterday. In what is the final-ever minor final, he gave one of the truly great performances ever seen at that grade, kicking 4-4 to help Kerry to a fourth consecutive All-Ireland minor title.
There is plenty of concern in the Kingdom - and beyond - that Clifford will be tempted to follow Mark O'Connor to the AFL, as his star turns thus far for Kerry have not gone unnoticed.
Amid the constant rumours, there was a pretty strange feature on the AFL's official website about Clifford, entitled Potential Irish star hard to prise from home.
The piece was published before yesterday's final, and calls Clifford the "Irish game's brightest talent in many years". It also quotes an anonymous "expert familiar with the Gaelic-to-AFL route" saying that it will be difficult for the Aussie game to prise Clifford from home.
"Is David Clifford the best Gaelic player for his age in the country? Probably. But does the first pick in the AFL always turn out to be the best player? Not necessarily," the expert said.
"There are Irish players who've been successful here who weren't the best player in Ireland. There's more to it than that.
"So right now, he stacks up as a pretty enticing prospect, that's for sure, but convincing him that (playing AFL is) the right thing to do for what arguably is going to be the best Gaelic footballer for a long time is the challenge.
The article was naturally disseminated on social media channels, and was displayed on The Sunday Game last night during the analysis/awed mutterings of Clifford's performance. Tomás O'Sé strayed from his point to criticise the sporting body's decision to make Clifford's future so public.
David Clifford, an 18-year-old Gaelic footballer, will come onto the radar of several AFL clubs. https://t.co/xWVZo23xA7
— AFL (@AFL) September 17, 2017
Here's what O'Sé had to say on The Sunday Game:
Now this tweet here. Look, I don't mind if David Clifford gets offered a way to go out to Australia. But I don't know why they're tweeting about it. If the guy goes, he goes.
I don't know who's driving it. But this is a guy who the AFL have apparently not tapped up yet, but the AFL are tweeting about him tonight, writing articles about him. There obviously is interest out there. I hope he stays at home for the good of Kerry football, but you can't force a young fella to stay at home.
He needs to want to stay at home, and I hope he does.
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