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On this page Paudie Clifford's last two seasons
Paudie Clifford stats: what he adds to David and Kerry
Paudie Clifford scored 1-21 in Kerry's eight championship games of 2026, his highest championship total and second only to his brother David among Kerry's scorers. Between them the Clifford brothers scored 47% of Kerry's points that year. Take his scores away and Kerry's All-Ireland quarter-final and semi-final wins both become one-point defeats.
Data checked on against the official match reports of all 17 Kerry championship games in 2025 and 2026, from Munster GAA and GAA.ie.
Paudie Clifford's last two seasons
In 2025 he missed three of Kerry's nine games and came off the bench in two more. In 2026 he played all eight.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Kerry games | 9 | 8 |
| Paudie's games | 6 | 8 |
| Paudie's total | 0-10 (10) | 1-21 (24) |
| Paudie per game played | 1.7 | 3.0 |
| David's total | 8-62 (86) | 7-50 (71) |
| Kerry's total | 249 | 203 |
| The brothers' share | 39% | 47% |
Our count from the match reports. Totals in brackets are points, with a goal worth three and a two-pointer two. Download the game-by-game data (CSV).
In 2026 the order of Kerry's scorers was David on 71, Paudie on 24 and Dylan Geaney on 22. Seán O'Shea, who scored 1-50 in 2025, finished 2026 on 0-7.
2026 was his highest-scoring season
2026 brought him a new role as well. By July, according to an Irish Times profile quoting Éamonn Fitzmaurice, he was kicking the 45s and long-range frees that Seán O'Shea used to take.
| Season | Games | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4 | 0-8 |
| 2022 | 5 | 0-8 |
| 2023 | 8 | 2-10 |
| 2024 | 7 | 0-10 |
| 2025 | 6 | 0-10 |
| 2026 | 8 | 1-21 |
2021 to 2024 from the Terrace Talk Kerry archive; 2025 and 2026 our count from the match reports. He also played once in 2020 without scoring.
Seven of his 24 points came from dead balls: two two-point frees, against Clare and Tyrone, and three 45s, worth a point each, against Kildare, Tyrone and Mayo. The other 17 came from play, which on its own is more than any season before it. One caveat cuts the other way: since 2025 a kick from outside the arc counts two, so his 1-21 in 2026 is not directly comparable with his 2-10 in 2023.
The jumpHis 24 points in 2026 were more than double his 10 in 2025, under the same scoring rules.
The Clifford brothers together
David's own record is on our David Clifford stats page. Paudie is the older of the two, and in 2026 they were Kerry's top two scorers.
| Game | Result | David | Paudie | Together |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Munster semi-final v Clare | W 2-19 to 1-14 | 1-7 | 1-3 | 64% |
| Munster final v Cork | W 1-23 to 1-15 | 1-6 | 0-1 | 38% |
| All-Ireland round 1 v Donegal | L 0-16 to 2-20 | 0-4 | 0-1 | 31% |
| All-Ireland round 2B v Kildare | W 3-22 to 0-17 | 1-4 | 0-3 | 32% |
| All-Ireland round 3 v Armagh | W 4-18 to 0-17 | 1-10 | 0-0 | 43% |
| Quarter-final v Tyrone | W 2-25 to 0-27 | 1-8 | 0-5 | 52% |
| Semi-final v Dublin | W 2-18 to 0-20 | 1-5 | 0-5 | 54% |
| Final v Mayo | L 1-17 to 1-20 | 1-6 | 0-3 | 60% |
Kerry's score first. Scorer lines from GAA.ie match reports.
From the quarter-final on, David and Paudie Clifford scored more than half of Kerry's points in every game, including 12 of their 20 in the final Mayo won. Their highest share of the year, 64%, came against Clare in the Munster semi-final.
Kerry without the Cliffords' scores
The same blunt test as on David's page: take a player's scores off Kerry's total, change nothing else, and see what happens to the result.
Take away Paudie's alone and two results in 2026 change. The quarter-final against Tyrone, won 2-25 to 0-27, becomes a one-point defeat. So does the semi-final against Dublin, won 2-18 to 0-20. He scored 0-5 in each.
Take away both brothers' scores and the two seasons look very different. Kerry won 14 of their 17 championship games across 2025 and 2026; without the Cliffords' scores they win two, against Roscommon in 2025 and Kildare in 2026, and draw two.
The test is crude. Without them, other Kerry players would have taken those shots, and opponents would have set up differently. What it does show is how much of Kerry's scoring ran through the two of them.
What the scoring numbers miss
Scoring is only part of his value, and he has said as much: "I want assists probably more than scores," he told GAA Now, as quoted by The Irish Times. The match reports we used do not record assists.
Live tagging fills in some of the rest. In the 2025 All-Ireland final against Donegal, RTÉ's tagging had him on the ball 76 times, and an analysis by Maurice Brosnan, quoted in the same Irish Times piece, counted 67 passes. His own line that day was 0-3, with no frees or 45s recorded.
A red card and two injuries in 2025
Kerry won the 2025 All-Ireland, but Paudie played in only six of their nine games. He was sent off in the 59th minute of the Munster semi-final against Cork for a high challenge, and the one-match ban kept him out of the Munster final against Clare. A muscle problem ruled him out against Roscommon, and he was injured again for the defeat to Meath.
| Game | Paudie |
|---|---|
| Munster semi-final v Cork (after extra time) | 0-2, sent off |
| Munster final v Clare | Suspended |
| Group v Roscommon | Injured |
| Group v Cork | 0-1 |
| Group v Meath | Injured |
| Preliminary quarter-final v Cavan | Came on, no score |
| Quarter-final v Armagh | Came on at half-time, 0-2 |
| Semi-final v Tyrone | 0-2 |
| Final v Donegal | 0-3 |
Munster GAA match reports; GAA.ie for the Armagh quarter-final; RTÉ for the suspension.
How we counted
Every 2025 and 2026 figure comes from the scorer lines in the official match reports: Munster GAA for eight of the 2025 games, GAA.ie for the 2025 quarter-final and all of 2026. The earlier seasons come from Terrace Talk's game-by-game Kerry archive, whose career total for him is 3-67 in 39 championship games. Its figures for 2025 and 2026 match our count. The CSV has every game of 2025 and 2026, both brothers' lines and the source.
Frequently asked questions
How many points did Paudie Clifford score in 2026?
1-21 in eight championship games, 24 points, his highest championship total. Seven came from two-point frees and 45s.
Are Paudie and David Clifford brothers?
Yes. Paudie is David Clifford's older brother, and in 2026 the two of them were Kerry's top two scorers.
Why did Paudie Clifford miss games in 2025?
A red card against Cork brought a one-match ban for the Munster final, and injury kept him out against Roscommon and Meath.
How many championship games has Paudie Clifford played?
39 for Kerry from 2020 to the end of 2026, according to Terrace Talk.