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Football fans the length and breadth of the country were left awestruck this past week when a video showcasing the kicking talents of Kerry footballers David Clifford and Shane Murphy went viral online.

The video, which was commissioned by local insurance brokers GMHD.ie, shows Clifford and Murphy going head-to-head in a shootout at the home of Kerry football - Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney.

After nailing a string of unlikely kicks from the sidelines and even the corner flag, the pair were eventually separated by a tie-breaking crossbar challenge from 35 metres out.

With the scores tied at 6-6, Dr Crokes goalkeeper Murphy narrowly missed the target and Fossa native Clifford stepped up to clinch the victory, hitting the black spot in the centre of the crossbar with his very first attempt.

The video was quickly picked up by leading sports podcast Off the Ball who played the three-and-a-half-minute clip in its entirety on their video broadcast on Thursday morning. “This is a bit special!” they later tweeted. “David Clifford, Shane Murphy, Fitzgerald Stadium and a crossbar challenge to win it all! Kerry are in safe hands...”

Popular sports website SportsJoe.ie also shared the kicking challenge with their 325,000 Facebook followers and later an article on their website was shared 1,400 times. National newspapers The Irish Sun and The Irish Mirror also published stories about the video online.

At the time of going to print, the video had racked up over 80,000 views.

The Killarney Advertiser’s own Adam Moynihan, who also works for GMHD.ie as a marketing executive and graphic designer, says the company are delighted with all the positive feedback they have received since the video’s release.

“People really seem to enjoy it, which is great,” Adam said.

“Shane works with us as a Personal Lines Sales Executive and when David came on board as a Brand Ambassador, we thought it would be interesting to pit the two of them against each other.

“The two lads are obviously supremely talented kickers but some of the shots they pulled off were outrageous. I was optimistic that the video would be well received and when they started knocking over points from the sideline, I definitely knew that we were on to something,” he said.

“Even the way it finished with David hitting the bar with his first go… It couldn’t have worked out better really. The boys enjoyed it as well so who knows, we might do something similar down the line with another challenger.”

Adam expressed his gratitude to videographer Stephen O’Donoghue for his hard work on the project and also to Kerry GAA and the Fitzgerald Stadium for the use of their facilities.

Gallivan Murphy Hooper Dolan Insurances, trading as GMHD.ie, has grown in recent years to become one of the largest brokers in Ireland. The Killarney-based company, who specialise in car, van, home and commercial insurance, now employ almost 60 people at their main offices at the top of High Street.