A Gaelic football season of massive upheaval ended just like so many others had: with Kerry winning another All-Ireland championship. The recognized all-time kings of the game, now led by David Clifford, who at 26 years old is already hailed as history’s greatest Gael footballer, blitzed Donegal early and then fairly coasted to a 10-point win, 1-26 to 0-19. The triumph, coming in front of more than 82,000 manic green-and-gold clad fans who packed Dublin’s legendary Croke Park, gave Kerry their 39th title in a competition that dates back to 1887. No other county comes close.
The 2025 tournament was the first held since the sport’s sanctioning body, the Gaelic Athletic Association, installed several momentous rule changes in hopes of opening up offenses. The alterations included forbidding back passes to goalies, and also short kickouts from goalies. But the most radical of the new edicts, and likely the most radical rule change ever foisted upon Irish football (and one which indicates Steph Curry’s sporting influence transcends the USA and basketball), came with the addition of a two-point arc 40 meters from the center of the goal line. The new line, according to the godfathers of the nationalistic pastime, would prevent coaches from stuffing the area in front of the goal with defenders, and thereby lead to both goal-scoring opportunities and long, majestic shots from play.
For the final, however, Donegal boss Jim McGuinness nevertheless employed essentially a box-and-one scheme, with his defensive backfield packed deep in a tight zone and Clifford being guarded man-to-man. But no Irishman since Daniel Day-Lewis has possessed a more vaunted and capable left foot than Clifford, who happily exploited the strategy and took two-point opportunities whenever they were offered. The first time Clifford touched the ball on this day, in fact, he got a little daylight from the Donegal defender and without any consideration to making a run toward the goal launched a kick from far beyond the arc and through the uprights for his and history’s first-ever All-Ireland two-pointer.
Clifford’s kick highlighted Kerry’s thrilling and game-defining opening quarter, in which the squad scored 13 points in the first 17 minutes, including three two-point boots. Clifford added another two-pointer as the first-half hooter sounded to put his team up by seven.
Donegal, so hung up on preventing scoring, had no good answer for Kerry’s controlled aggression on offense. Michael Murphy, Donegal’s 35-year-old former All-Ireland winning forward who’d retired from inter-county football in 2022 and launched a successful broadcast career but returned to the pitch this season in hopes of reliving the sort of glories he brought the Ulster squad in his first go-round, put up quite decent scoreline, with eight points. But only two of Murphy’s points were from play; Clifford had nine points on the day, and none of his one-pointers were from frees.
When Donegal finally dropped its hyper-defensive focus in hopes of mounting a last-gasp comeback, Kerry made them pay for that, too. Joe O’Connor, the Kerry attackman with eyes so striking they have to be seen to be believed, took a pass on the right flank at the end of a breakaway and slammed the ball into the back of the net for the game’s only goal. And the Kerry celebrations began.
Any talk of another Kerry run for a Sam Maguire Cup seemed foolish only last month. The Kingdom was written off after being smoked by Meath in a preliminary round of the 2025 All-Ireland tournament, 0-16 to 1-22. The nine-point margin of defeat was reported as the football-centric county’s worst loss in the last quarter century of All-Ireland tournaments. The blowout defeat also meant Kerry had to play in and win a knockout qualifying match or they wouldn’t even get to Croker for a quarterfinal tilt, an unheard of exit for Kerrymen.
“Five or six weeks ago,” O’Connor said during yesterday's victory celebration, “we were on our knees.”
But, as O’Connor pointed out, at the time of the crushing loss the Kerry critics seemed to ignore all the offensive talent the team was missing up front due to injuries. Forwards Seanie O’Shea, a legend in Kerry since he booted the game-winning free from 55-meters out against dynastic Dublin in the closing moments of a 2022 All-Ireland semifinal, and Paudie Clifford, the underheralded older brother of David Clifford, were among the wounded bench riders that sad day in Tullamore.
Both O’Shea and Paudie Clifford were back in the lineup for the quarterfinals, however. And Kerry played near flawless football ever since.
In a postgame interview on the field, Paudie fairly raged at anybody who wrote off his squad or downplayed the significance of all but his brother’s contributions to Kerry’s success.
“To be called a one-man team is nearly disrespectful,” said Paudie Clifford, who racked up an astonishing 76 possessions during the Donegal match. “It’s kind of personal.”
Jim McGuinness, the Donegal manager who won All-Irelands for the county as both a player and a coach, said there was really no use nitpicking his strategy or his players’ performances. Kerry was just too damn good for ‘em.
“Some days, you have to take it on the chin,” McGuinness said.
Mark McHugh, a former Donegal footballer who won an All-Ireland with the Ulster squad in 2012, said on the wrap-up show broadcast by Irish network RTE that he’d advise the current squad to simply harp on how lucky they were to share the field with an immortal like David Clifford at the peak of his powers.
“The one good thing for Donegal from up here, and all the disappointment going home: At least they got to watch him play,” McHugh said.
O’Connor, moments after taking his fifth All-Ireland win as Kerry manager over the last 21 years, all but announced that he was retiring from the sport. But, sadly for obsessive Gaelic fans, the game now goes on hiatus until February 2026. So O’Connor knew he didn’t have to finalize or annul such a big decision right away. He obviously would rather spend at least this day dwelling on just how wondrous a football championship was for him or any Irishman so lucky to win one.
“It’s the stuff of dreams,” O’Connor said.
