26 minutes gone in Croke Park and Kerry have just scored four unanswered points. The opening 10 minutes of this match where Down raced to a 1-3 lead seems an awful long time ago. The Gooch is floating over scores with his left and right boot using minimal effort. It looks like the hare is tiring, only a matter of time before the hound makes its kill.
Hold on. Martin Clarke has just rocked the Kingdom on their heels! Two expertly taken points have stemmed the tide, the first a 45 from the right hand side. Then, like the second jolt of a defibrillator, another arrives: A drilled effort from the tight angle in his left corner forward position. Kerry must wait for another day to banish this peculiar hoodoo.
The Mourne Men will not be of a mind to complain, but all the talk in the wake of their quarter final victory over the reigning champions has speculated upon the longevity of the green and gold rather than the rekindling of Down magic lost for almost two decades. This was a victory of style over the stylish, no recriminations of "puke football" here. And despite only dissecting the posts once from play, Clarke was justly named man of the match.
Returning to the round ball game after two years plying his trade in Melbourne. Clarke is reaping the benefits of professionalism and that makes him stand out from the crowd. His physique makes him look and move like an athlete, a spring in his step more akin to David Gillick than the average corner forward. Amateur status means that Gaelic Footballers, although fit enough for 70 minutes of Championship action, are odd shaped, failed by part time dietitians and weight trainers giving conflicting advice. Or worse, sweeping advice for an entire squad, rather than individual program's. Clarke breaks the mould, proving the template of a burly "bomber" type centre forward flanked by nippy, cute wee fella's is long out of fashion.
Clarke is able to combine his natural talent, with a relentless work rate. After his brace of retaliating scores, Kerry still went probing. And after having a goal disallowed (for what replays show was a good hand pass) they looked to have worked their way though again on the stroke of half time, until a long arm reached out to intercept on the edge of the big square. It was Clarke, supposedly playing 'top of the left' he was now the last line of defence. Danger still lurked, the 22 year old raced Colm Cooper to the loose ball and won again. He passed to safety while wincing in pain after sustaining a flying shoulder from Gooch.
The result of that intervention was that down took an unassailable 1-7 to 0-4 lead through half time, at that point RTE pundit Joe Brolly, himself an all star full forward in the northern province, hinted at big things to come from the former Collingwood rookie
"I've seen him three times in the league this year and I thought on each occasion: the man is no doubt touched with a bit of greatness."
It is much more than athleticism or the skill in his left boot that sets him apart, Clarke uses these attributes to compliment outstanding spacial awareness, patience and imagination traits Brolly also highlights:
"He knows how to influence the game just by moving the ball along. His positional sense, his general composure..He doesn't hang around with the ball, you'll never see him being blocked down or anything like that. His movements been excellent."
Brolly is not one to be lost for words, but was fast running out of compliments to pay the young man and had to cut himself short, summing up:
"he's just blessed with that natural ability that ordinary footballers don't have."
Two years and 46 appearances in the AFL must surely take some credit for that swiftness of thought in open field. Australia's incarnation of football requires perpetual motion for both man and ball, the tackle is more vicious and you need not wait long with the ball before being nailed to the deck, a Rugby style tackle that would never be accepted by GAA lawmakers.
Clarke, who hails from the An Riocht club, in Kilkeel, the east coast of the county, was awarded man of the match for his link play and four points against Kerry. The Croke Park stage evidently suits a player of his skill, and with Kildare the opposition for Down's first All Ireland Semi final since 1994. Both the Lilywhites and the Mourne's will feel a place in September's showpiece final is theirs for the taking. But only one side will have the magic of Clarke in their arsenal.
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