Kerry eased to a 1-14 to 0-11 win over Dublin in front of 45,838 spectators at Croke Park.

In the second instalment of the double-bill at HQ, the Kingdom took control after the resumption and Darran O'Sullivan's 55th-minute goal ensured that they would not be bettered.

Bryan Sheehan scored eight times for the beaten All-Ireland finalists, who could have won by a cricket score but for an amazing 17 wides. Dublin did well before the break but - having reportedly trained 40 times in January alone - they seemed to tire thereafter. They also missed the Brogan brothers and Barry Cahill.

Injury-time points from Mossie Quinn and Stephen Cluxton (who else?) gave Dublin a 0-7 to 0-5 half-time lead, with Kerry hitting twelve wides in the opening period alone.

There were spectacular scenes before the game as the lights were dimmed and fireworks went off and Kerry graciously clapped the Dubs onto the pitch to the thundering chords of Thin Lizzy's 'The Boys Are Back In Town' - what an atmosphere!

Professional abseilers delivered the ball from the roof of the Hogan Stand down to the match referee and Dublin almost had a goal within seconds of the start as Mossie Quinn bore down on Brendan Kealy but the Kerry goalkeeper made a great save with his toe.

At the other end, the Kingdom scored first when intercounty novice James O'Donoghue split the posts after a clever Paul Galvin pass. Bryan Sheehan followed up with a second Kerry point in the eighth minute, with Galvin very prominent in the early exchanges.

Another Sheehan point from a free was followed by Dublin's opener from Kevin McMenamin in the ninth minute as things started to hot up at HQ. And Quinn's twelfth-minute free closed the gap to the minimum before Kerry hit their fourth wide.

Legion clubman O'Donoghue clipped over a free to make it 0-4 to 0-2 to Kerry after 15 minutes. Dubs captain Brian Cullen got on the end of a flowing move to halve the margin and a trademark Quinn free cancelled out Kerry's next score, supplied by Barry John Keane.

And it was last year's supersub McMenamin who made it 0-5 each after 22 minutes. There were no further scores until Quinn drilled over an excellent long-rang point from play in first-half injury time.

Prior to that, Diarmuid Connolly wildly missed a brace of frees either side of a decent Kieran Donaghy effort. Sheehan also missed a free that one would normally expect him to convert…

And, after Quinn's free, there was a real moment of nostalgia as Stephen Cluxton came up the pitch to kick over a '45' in the second added minute to give the All-Ireland champions a two-point interval advantage.

All of Kerry's first-half points came in the opening quarter, so Jack O'Connor had plenty to think about as the teams went off for their break.

O'Donoghue won and converted a free to close the gap to one point but McMenamin collected a pass from Connolly to dink over an instant reply - his third point making it 0-8 to 0-6 after 40 minutes.

When a Sheehan free drifted off target, Kerry's wides tally went up to 14 but the All Star midfielder immediately sprinted through the middle to hit his third of the day.

When Darran O'Sullivan was hauled down as he bore down on the Dublin goal, Sheehan flicked a close-range free over to level the scores again, 0-8 each. Kerry now took control…

Sheehan edged the Munster champions in front with his fifth point but he also missed a brace of frees as the Kingdom strained to put their old rivals to the sword.

However, Sheehan's 55th-minute pointed free made it a two-point game and O'Sullivan then hit a wonderful goal after collecting a pass from substitute Patrick Curtin of Moyvane.

Kerry had registered 1-4 without reply but Connolly ended that run with a lovely point for the Metropolitans, 1-10 to 0-9.

A fabulous Sheehan free off the ground sent Kerry five ahead and Cluxton stroked over another free - similar to the one that won the Same Maguire Cup 139 days ago - before Sheehan bagged his eighth point, this one from play.

Barry John Keane's left foot extended the Kingdom's lead to six points, 1-13 to 0-10 with eight minutes to go.

Quinn stroked over a free and Dublin's day went from bad to worse when substitute Eamonn Fennell received a straight red card for striking out at Sheehan. Keane rounded off an outstanding display with his third point as Kerry brought their second-half tally to 1-9 (against 0-4 from the hosts).

Kerry - B Kealy; S Enright, M O Se, P Crowley; T O Se, K Young, B Maguire; S Scanlon, B Sheehan (0-8); P Galvin, D O'Sullivan (1-0), S O'Sullivan, J O'Donoghue (0-3), K Donaghy, BJ Keane (0-3). Subs: A Maher for Scanlon, P Curtin for S O'Sullivan, D O'Callaghan for D O'Sullivan, A O'Mahony for Crowley, D Bohan for Keane.

Dublin - S Cluxton (0-2); M Fitzsimons, Rory O'Carroll, P McMahon; J McCarthy, G Brennan, C Dias; P Brogan, K McMenamin (0-3), B Cullen (0-1); R McConnell, MD Macauley; D Connolly (0-1), E O'Gara, T Quinn (0-4). Subs: P Flynn for Brogan, K Nolan for Fitzsimons, E Fennell for Ross McConnell, D Kelly for O'Gara, S Murray for Macauley. Tweet

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