Kerry hit the sweet spot either side of the interval to defeat Dublin by 0-15 to 1-10 in poor conditions at Killarney.

Trailing by four points after 30 minutes, Eamon Fitzmaurice's men rallied to register ten of the next eleven points and place themselves in winning position. Substitute Bernard Brogan's goal on the hour gave the visitors hope but that would be the last score of a bad-tempered match that saw twelve cards of varying colours flashed, including a late, late red for Dublin's Mick Fitzsimons.

The Dubs led by the odd points from 13 at the end of an evenly-contested and entertaining opening half. Dublin's team work was evident as six different players contributed their seven first-half points, while the inimitable Bryan Sheehan struck half of his side's first-half tally on his way to a match-winning 0-6 haul.

Six points were shared during the opening quarter of an hour. Ciaran Kilkenny marked his return to the starting team with the opening point inside the first minute but the Kingdom replied with beautiful scores from Michael Geaney and Johnny Buckley.

Jack McCaffrey got forward to level the scores for the second time and Kevin McManamon powered through to fire over a third Dubs point before Bryan Sheehan replied from a free, with Dublin's Denis Bastick heading for an early shower after being shown a black card.

McCaffrey's second point of the afternoon following a Tomas Brady effort saw two points appear between the sides for the first time. Stephen O'Brien slotted the Kingdom's fourth score of the day after Shane Carthy had momentarily made it double scores but Dean Rock made no mistake from a 14-metre free on the half-hour following a foul on Eoghan O'Gara: 0-7 to 0-4.

Back came the All-Ireland champions as Sheehan swept over a stunning free from distance and a super point from play. In between those scores, the hosts lost Paul Murphy to a black card.

Approaching the final quarter, the All-Ireland champions led by six points, 0-14 to 0-8, having hit ten of the eleven points scored between the 30th and 53rd minutes.

Sheehan's '45' tied the scores up after the restart and there were further scores from O'Brien, Sheehan (free) and David Moran before half-time substitute Bernard Brogan opened the visitors' second-half account with a classy finish.

Paul Geaney, Sheehan (free) and Barry John Keane (2) hit four on the trot to leave clear daylight between the sides at the three-quarters stage. The Dubs crept back into contention, however, with points from Brogan (free) and O'Gara before the former Footballer of the Year netted on the hour to leave just two between them and set up a grandstand finish: 0-15 to 1-10.

As tempers became frayed, the Kingdom shut up shop for the closing ten minutes and Dublin were unable to make any further inroads on the scoreboard. The visitors' day of woe was complete when Fitzsimons picked up a red card in the third minute of injury time.

Kerry - B Kealy; P Kilkenny, M Griffin, F Fitzgerald; J Lyne, J Sherwood, P Murphy; A Maher, D Moran (0-1); M Geaney (0-1), B Sheehan (0-6, 4f, 1'45), J Buckley (0-2); S O'Brien (0-2), K Donaghy, P Geaney (0-1). Subs: K Young for P Murphy (BC), BJ Keane (0-2) for M Geaney, T Walsh for P Geaney, S Enright for P Kilkenny, A Fitzgerald for B Sheehan, P O'Connor for S O'Brien, P Crowley for K Donaghy (BC).

Dublin - S Currie; M Fitzsimons, R O'Carroll, D Daly; J McCaffrey (0-2), P McMahon, J Cooper; D Bastick, S Carthy (0-1); T Brady (0-1), D Rock (0-1f), C Kilkenny (0-1); K McManamon (0-1), E O'Gara (0-1), C Costello. Subs: C O'Sullivan for D Bastick (BC), B Brogan (1-2, 0-1f) for C Costello, P Andrews for D Rock, N Devereux for P McMahon (BC), B Fenton for T Brady, E Lowndes for J Cooper.

Referee - E Kinsella.

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