Kerry cruised to a 1-20 to 1-11 victory over Mayo at sunny Croke Park.

The mercurial Colm Cooper notched 1-7 for the winners, who have now won their last seven All-Ireland semi-finals.

Thus, the Kingdom are through to yet another Sam Maguire decider, where they will face either Dublin or Donegal in a month's time.

Kerry led by 0-8 to 0-5 at the break. They had trailed by 0-5 to 0-3 after 23 minutes but reeled off five consecutive points as the underdogs seemed to run out of steam in the last ten minutes of the opening half.

Kieran Donaghy started at midfield for Kerry and the Kingdom went straight on the offensive, with Darran O'Sullivan bearing down on goal after 20 seconds. But his deft shot off the outside of his left boot went a couple of feet wide. Mayo goalkeeper Robert Hennelly got the slightest of touches so a '45' was awarded, which Bryan Sheehan drilled wide.

The Munster champions had three more wides and were denied a clear '45', while Cooper hit an upright before Enda Varley pointed James Horan's men in front with an excellent left-footed point on six minutes.

Again, Darran O'Sullivan found himself in a one-on-one with Hennelly and this time the Kerry attacker's shot hit the Mayo No.1 on the head. In the eighth minute, Tomas O Se got forward to boot over Kerry's opening score.

It was all Kerry in the opening exchanges and Eoin Brosnan struck another poor wide before Alan Dillon bought a cheap free out of the Kingdom defence, which Varley stroked over in the twelfth minute. The underdogs had only had two attacks and were hanging on at the other end, but they led by 0-2 to 0-1.

Andy Moran turned Marc O Se inside-out and brilliantly manufactured a goal chance for himself but Brendan Kealy stood up well to make a save. Mayo were awarded another free in front of the posts when Tomas O Se was adjudged to have pulled Alan Freeman off the ball and this time Cillian O'Connor obliged.

Cooper tipped over an easy free and centre back Donal Vaughan replied with an excellent Mayo point before Darran O'Sullivan did likewise at the Hill 16 end. Aidan O Se and Alan Freeman both missed chances of adding to Mayo's tally but O'Connor made it a two-point game when he knocked over a nice free on 23 minutes.

Three minutes later, Brosnan took a pass from Cooper to clip over a super Kerry point. The favourites were deploying a blanket defence and Mayo ran into a brick wall before Kieran Donaghy kicked the levelling point from out the field, with Tomas O Se again prominent in the attack. In the 29th minute, O'Connor hit a very disappointing wide for Mayo from directly in front of goal on the turn, and Cooper arced over the lead point off his right foot after a quick free on the half-hour.

Three successive Kerry points had turned the game around and a mistake from Hennelly culminated in another pointed free from Cooper: 0-7 to 0-5 after 33 minutes. Sheehan stroked over an injury-time free but Andy Moran boomed a magnificent point from out on the left wing to close the first-half scoring. Mayo had shipped five successive points but they had the last say before the short whistle and trailed by just two at the interval.

Kieran O'Leary fisted a point and Sheehan added an excellent free as Kerry doubled their advantage within four minutes of the resumption. Vaughan got forward once more to take a good Mayo point and Moran made it two in a minute for the underdogs - 0-10 to 0-8 after 41 minutes. Kerry now took the game by the scruff of the neck…

Cooper's next score was nothing short of sublime and Kerry introduced Paul Galvin, who pointed almost immediately to announce his arrival in style. Cooper added another beauty and there were signs now that Kerry were pulling away … 0-13 to 0-8 after 47 minutes. Sheehan arrowed over a 50-metre free and Donaghy fisted a fantastic first-time point when he reacted quickest after Declan O'Sullivan hit an upright. For the second time today, Kerry had struck five in a row.

It was all one-way traffic as O'Leary made it double scores with a sixth consecutive point for the Kingdom.

O'Connor gave Mayo hope with a stunning goal in the 52nd minute, bulging the net with a scorching left-footed shot after Kealy had saved from Moran. But, two minutes later, Cooper blasted an equally-excellent goal at the other end to restore the eight-point gap, 1-16 to 1-8.

O'Connor pulled back another free and there were wides at either end before Vaughan's scorching shot flew inches over the bar following a quick Moran free. A second Mayo goal at that stage - on the hour - might have made for an interesting finish…

Mayo were again left frustrated when Moran created another goal opportunity but struck the outside of the left post. Substitute Lee Keegan closed the gap to five points with three minutes left but Cooper responded with a free from his hands.

Substitute Seamus Scanlon, Cooper (free) and Galvin tagged on injury-time points as classy Kerry eased across the winning line. For the eighth time in ten years, the aristocrats are in the senior All-Ireland football final.

Kerry: Brendan Kealy; Killian Young, Marc O Se, Tom O'Sullivan; Tomas O Se (0-1), Eoin Brosnan (0-1), Aidan O'Mahony; Anthony Maher, Bryan Sheehan (0-3); Darran O'Sullivan (0-1), Declan O'Sullivan, Donnchadh Walsh; Colm Cooper (1-7), Kieran Donaghy (0-2), Kieran O'Leary (0-2). Subs: Paul Galvin (0-2), James O'Donoghue, Daniel Bohan, Seamus Scanlon (0-1), Barry John Keane.

Mayo: Robert Hennelly; Tom Cunniffe, Ger Cafferkey, Keith Higgins; Richie Feeney, Donal Vaughan (0-3), Trevor Mortimer; Aidan O'Shea, Seamus O'Shea; Kevin McLoughlin, Alan Dillon, Andy Moran (0-2); Enda Varley (0-2), Alan Freeman, Cillian O'Connor (1-3). Subs: Ronan McGarrity, Lee Keegan (0-1), Aidan Campbell, Jason Doherty. Tweet

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