Kerry 2-19
Tipperary 0-8

Kerry have begun their bid for a 75th Munster SFC title with an emphatic 17-point victory over Tipperary in Killarney this afternoon.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice's first championship game in charge of the Kingdom couldn't have gone much better as they cruised to a semi-final meeting with Waterford next Saturday evening. On this evidence, and the evidence of last night's other quarter-final in Limerick, the gap between Kerry and Cork, and the rest in Munster, remains as wide as ever.

The muted crowd of 7,321 in Fitzgerald Stadium scarcely got value for money on a day when Kerry showed why they remain serious All-Ireland contenders. The writing was on the wall for Tipp - who haven't won a Munster SFC match in 10 years - at half-time when they trailed by 0-4 to 0-11 after playing with the wind in the first half.

Things went from bad to worse for Peter Creedon's charges when they conceded a goal to James O'Donoghue straight after the restart and they had full forward Barry Grogan sent off on a second yellow card in the 48th minute.

With Colm Cooper orchestrating matters from centre forward, the hosts streaked away in the final quarter and wrapped up a facile win when Darran O'Sullivan came off the bench to score their second goal seven minutes from the end.

Of Kerry's winning tally, 2-15 came from play, with all of their starting forwards and midfield getting on the score sheet.

Tipp won the toss and elected to play with the strong breeze in the opening half. But they were behind within 15 seconds of the throw-in when Colm Cooper raised the game's first white flag. The Kingdom quickly added a second point when Cooper's Dr Crokes' club-mate Johnny Buckley converted a free from his hands after Kieran Donaghy had been fouled.

Donaghy turned provider in the fourth minute when James O'Donoghue ran onto a hand-pass and drilled over. Tipp had to wait until the seventh minute for their first scoring chance which Peter Acheson failed to take. It continued to be one-way traffic as Donnacha Walsh knocked over the home side's fourth point on the turn a minute later after Tomas O Se had been twice involved in the build-up.

The Premier boys eventually opened their account in the 11th minute when Barry Grogan drew a foul from Marc O Se and slotted over the resultant free from the 20-metre line. Kerry regained a four-point advantage on the quarter-hour mark when the busy O'Donoghue took a return pass from Donaghy and fired over a left-footed effort.

Grogan registered Tipp's second point from a sweetly-struck '45 after both he and his marker Marc O Se had been given a stern warning to by referee Conor Lane for an incident which led to some pushing and shoving in the Kerry goalmouth. Killian Young then joined the Kerry attack to release James O'Donoghue for his third point before another clash involving Grogan and Peter Crowley resulted in both players receiving yellow cards.

A needless foul by Marc O Se on Grogan yielded Tipp's third point from the full forward before Alan Maloney - who was forced to retire with an ankle injury on the stroke of half-time - had a poor wide from a free.

Kerry then hit a purple patch which produced five unanswered points in a nine-minute spell. Midfielder Anthony Maher started the scoring sequence in the 25th minute following another patient build-up. Corner back John Coghlan kicked Tipp's sixth wide before Donaghy notched his second point after Donnacha Walsh's initial goal attempt had been blocked.

Philip Austin and Donagh Leahy became the second and third Tipp players to be booked before Declan O'Sullivan's pass put through Tomas O Se, who fisted over via the upright. Paul Galvin then took centre stage with two points in as many minutes to stretch Kerry's lead to eight, 0-11 to 0-3. In between, Grogan registered Tipp's seventh wide.

Tipp wing forward Conor Sweeney completed the first half scoring from a free he had won himself following a foul by Aidan O'Mahony.

The visitors resumed with Aldo Matassa and Brian Mulvihill replacing Alan Maloney and Robbie Kiely respectively. But their comeback hopes were ended within a minute of the restart when Colm Cooper supplied O'Donoghue who proceeded to skin John Coghlan before side-footing the ball to the net to make it 1-11 to 0-4.

Tipp, to their credit, responded with three points in-a-row. Conor Sweeney got the first from a free before the hard-working Philip Austin scored their first from play after 43 minutes. Corner back Ciaran McDonald then showed his forwards how it's done with Tipp's seventh point.

Peter Creedon's men had veteran goalkeeper Paul Fitzgerald to thank for preventing a second goal when he made a finger-tip save to deny Donnacha Walsh at the expense of a '45, from which Johnny Buckley hit the post and the danger was cleared.

Disaster then struck Tipp when Grogan was issued with his second yellow card followed a needless challenge on Aidan O'Mahony. Further salt was rubbed into the losers' wounds when Colm Cooper followed up with a delightful left-footed score.

Johnny Buckley nailed another free before Paul Galvin was forced to retire following a heavy collision with John Coughlan. A groggy-looking Galvin was issued with a yellow card before making way for Bryan Sheehan.

Declan O'Sullivan became the last of Kerry's starting sextet to score in the 55th minute. Tipp had thrown in the towel by now as 'Gooch' Cooper showed his star quality with three points (one from a free) in quick succession to push out the winners' lead to 1-17 to 0-7.

Johnny Buckley was also on target before the inrushing Darran O'Sullivan palmed home Kerry's second goal after a trademark Donaghy catch and layoff in the 63rd minute.

Conor Sweeney scored Tipp's eighth point from a free, and they should have had a goal when Peter Acheson fired wide after Paddy Codd struck the post with a point attempt. It was left to Bryan Sheehan to complete the rout from a '45 after Paul Fitzgerald had denied Darran O'Sullivan his second goal.

Kerry: B Kealy; M Ó Sé, A O'Mahony, F Fitzgerald; T Ó Sé (0-1), K Young, P Crowley; A Maher (0-1), J Buckley (0-3, 0-2f); P Galvin (0-2), C Cooper (capt) (0-5, 0-1f), D Walsh (0-1); Declan O'Sullivan (0-1), K Donaghy (0-1), J O'Donoghue (1-3). Subs: Darran O'Sullivan (1-0) for Walsh (50 mins), B Sheehan (0-1, 0-1 '45') for Galvin (56), M Griffin for M Ó Sé (60), K O'Leary for Declan O'Sullivan (62), B McGuire for T Ó Sé (63).

Tipperary: P Fitzgerald; J Coghlan, P Codd (capt), C McDonald (0-1); R Kiely, D Leahy, A Campbell; G Hannigan, R Costigan; C Sweeney (0-3, 0-3f), I Fahey, P Acheson; A Maloney, B Grogan (0-3, 0-2f, 0-1 '45'), P Austin (0-1). Subs: S Leahy for Campbell (35 mins), A Matassa for Maloney, B Mulvihill for Kiely (both half-time), L Egan for Hannigan (59), H Coghlan for Fahey (64).

Referee: Conor Lane (Cork). Tweet

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