Four unanswered points in the last seven minutes gave Kerry a 0-18 to 1-11 victory over Tyrone at rain-soaked Croke Park.

Anthony Maher and substitutes Paul Geaney (2) and Barry John Keane finally put Mickey Harte's battlers to the sword at the end of an absorbing contest played out in awful conditions.

The Ulster County, who chased the game from the twelfth minute, had drawn level when Peter Harte dispatched a 60th-minute penalty followed quickly by a Mark Bradley point and could possibly have had a second penalty in the 65th minute when substitute Padraig McNulty was instead booked for diving.

That was the O'Neill County's last chance and, with 53,044 spectators looking on, the holders powered through to next month's decider, while the border county were left to rue missing three presentable goal chances.

A Kieran Donaghy point in the third minute of injury time handed the winners a 0-8 to 0-7 lead at the end of a thoroughly-enjoyable opening period. The sides shared four points inside the first four minutes: Darren McCurry notched a brace at the Hill 16 end for the underdogs before Johnny Buckley did likewise for the Munster champions.

Wing back Ronan McNabb and Buckley - who fisted his third - traded scores before Stephen O'Brien edged the holders ahead for the first time. O'Donoghue's free made it 0-5 to 0-3 and Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan smashed over a terrific free from under the Hogan Stand after Kerry full back Marc O'Se - making his 85th championship appearance - was black-carded after just 15 minutes for a rugby tackle.

There were no further scores until the 23rd minute, when O'Brien bagged his second. Connor McAliskey blasted a shot over the bar from close range two minutes later but Tyrone would certainly have had a goal had he spotted team-mate McCurry totally unmarked inside.

An O'Donoghue point from a '45' that was erroneously awarded by the umpire stretched the gap but the Red Hands drew level in the second minute of added time at the end of the first half thanks to a couple of wonderful strikes from Bradley and Mattie Donnelly off their left boots. Donaghy's point was his last contribution before being replaced by Geaney at half time.

McAliskey tied the scores up two minutes after the restart but back came Kerry with a Colm Cooper brace - the first from the softest of frees - before Geaney and McCurry swapped points: 0-11 to 0-9 after 41 minutes. Brendan Kealy made a decent save to deny Bradley a goal eight minutes after the restart.

The Kingdom doubled the gap again with scores from Donnchadh Walsh and O'Donoghue (free). The reigning Footballer of the Year converted another free after a Ronan McNamee (black card) foul on Cooper before Colm Cavanagh pointed to leave four points still separating the teams with 14 minutes to go.

Harte tucked away a penalty on the hour after a foul on substitute Barry Tierney but the Red Hands recorded wides from Morgan and McCurry frees either side of that score. Bradley tied the scores up on 62 minutes but Maher had restored Kerry's lead within 60 seconds - a clinical response.

Geaney doubled the gap and then tapped over a 69th-minute free after a fierce, late McNabb hit on Cooper. It was substitute Keane who closed the scoring as the Kingdom progressed to meet either Mayo or Dublin in the decider.

Kerry - B Kealy; P Murphy, M O Se, S Enright; J Lyne, P Crowley, K Young; D Moran, A Maher (0-1); S O'Brien (0-2), J Buckley (0-3), D Walsh (0-1); C Cooper (0-2, 1f), K Donaghy (0-1), J O'Donoghue (0-4, 2f, 1'45). Subs: F Fitzgerald for M O Se (BC), P Geaney (0-3, 1f) for K Donaghy, B Sheehan for D Moran, D O'Sullivan for S O'Brien, A O'Mahony for P Crowley, B J Keane (0-1) for D Walsh.

Tyrone - N Morgan (0-1f); A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; R McNabb (0-1), Justin McMahon, P Harte (1-0pen); C Cavanagh (0-1), M Donnelly (0-1); T McCann, M Bradley (0-2), C Meyler; D McCurry (0-3, 1f), S Cavanagh, C McAliskey (0-2). Subs: P McNulty for C Meyler, C Clarke for R McNamee (BC), B Tierney for A McCrory.

Referee - M Deegan.

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