Kerry were a class apart at Croke Park this afternoon as they eased to a thumping 7-16 to 0-10 victory over Kildare.

All seven Kingdom goals hit the Hill 16 net in the second half as the Munster champions completely outclassed the team that sent Cork packing last weekend.

It was a disappointing day for the Lilywhites, who received a second black eye to go with the one dished out by Dublin. Beaten by 19 points by the Dubs on June 28th, Jason Ryan's men lost by 27 today.

The only dark cloud for the emphatic winners was a shoulder injury sustained by Footballer of the Year James O'Donoghue during the first half, which makes him a doubt for the semi-final against either Monaghan or Tyrone.

Kildare were never in this game but six Kerry goals between the 39th and 57th minutes from Donnchadh Walsh, Colm Cooper (2), Darran O'Sullivan, Barry John Keane and Stephen O'Brien put them ruthlessly to the sword. O'Sullivan added his second major in injury time.

The first half was played on Kerry's terms (the second one even more so!) and - even though their opponents had plenty of possession - they cruised into a 0-10 to 0-3 half-time lead, with the impressive O'Brien knocking over four of those points.

Completely out of their depth, Kildare only managed to score between the 17th and 20th minutes and drew blank for the remainder of the first half.

There was a curveball from Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice prior to throw-in when it was announced that Cooper was in for his first championship start since 2013, with injured team captain Kieran Donaghy making way.

The holders led by two points to no score after ten minutes. O'Donoghue opened the scoring inside ten seconds and O'Brien sliced over the second. The Lilywhites had more possession in those early stages but were going nowhere.

O'Brien and Paul Geaney flashed over two more Kerry points in as many minutes. The underdogs finally opened their account in the 18th minute through Niall Kelly, who popped one over the bar at the Hill 16 end from the left wing, and they had further points from Alan Smith and Kelly after O'Donoghue had pointed the softest of Kerry frees.

But the Kingdom pulled away with four quickfire points from the in-form O'Brien (2), Cooper and O'Donoghue: 0-9 to 0-3 after 26 minutes. O'Donoghue was almost in for a first-half Kerry goal but a superb last-ditch Mark Donnellan tackle robbed the Legion man of possession.

O'Donoghue injured his right arm in that fall and had to be replaced, with Barry John Keane taking his place five minutes from the break. Geaney knocked over the last score of a one-sided opening period as the Munster champions led by seven at the short whistle.

The game was already over but few could have anticipated the massacre that was to come as Kerry struck for a magnificent seven goals!

Four minutes after the restart, Walsh fired the ball to the back of the Kildare net at the second attempt after Donnellan had spilled David Moran's attempted point. The losers swept over lovely scores from Smith and Padraig O'Neill either side of that but trailed by eight six minutes into the second half, 1-10 to 0-5.

After Eoin Doyle had landed another nice Kildare score, Kerry pounced for their second major in the 44th minute: substitute O'Sullivan was the architect with his strong running, leaving Cooper with a simple palm-in to the empty net. O'Sullivan followed up with a point and then a goal of his own as the gap went out to 14 points after 47 minutes.

Amazingly, substitute Keane and Cooper added further Kerry goals in the 49th and 52nd minutes respectively as they soared into a 20-point lead, 5-11 to 0-6. In the 57th minute, O'Brien sprinted through to add the sixth Kerry goal, either side of converted Cooper and Eoghan O'Flaherty frees at either end.

Keane and Ollie Lyons traded scores, as did Keane and O'Neill, as the game began to peter out to an inevitable conclusion. Substitute Fionn Dowling and Cooper also exchanged late scores and Kerry finished with a flourish as Keane pointed again and O'Sullivan added an injury-time goal.

Kerry - B Kealy; M O Se, A O'Mahony, S Enright; J Lyne, K Young, P Murphy; A Maher, D Moran; D Walsh (1-0), B Sheehan, S O'Brien (1-4); P Geaney (0-2), C Cooper (2-3, 0-1f), J O'Donoghue (0-3, 1f). Subs: BJ Keane (1-3) for J O'Donoghue, D O'Sullivan (2-1) for P Geaney, P Crowley for M O Se, P Galvin for D Walsh, J Buckley for B Sheehan, T Walsh for A Maher.

Kildare - M Donnellan; C Fitzpatrick, M O'Grady, O Lyons (0-1); K Murnaghan, E Doyle (0-1), E Bolton; T Moolick, P Cribbin; E O'Flaherty (0-1), N Kelly (0-2), P O'Neill (0-2); E Callaghan, A Smith (0-2), C McNally. Subs: P Kelly for E Callaghan, F Conway for K Murnaghan, P Fogarty for N Kelly, M Sherry for C McNally, F Dowling (0-1) for T Moolick, G White for E Bolton.

Referee - D Coldrick.

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