Limerick showed Kerry no mercy at the Gaelic Grounds, where Ronan Lynch (3-11) contributed handsomely to a 22-point drubbing, 6-21 to 3-8.

The result gets the Treaty County up and running following their opening-round loss to Wexford, although John Kiely will be far from happy about the concession of three goals to their neighbours, all of which were notched by Padraig Boyle.

The Kingdom went into the game with a spring in their step following last weekend's miraculous recovery against Laois but they looked leaden footed and out of their depth by the time the long whistle put them out of their misery.

The sides were on level terms at the midway stage in the first half, 0-7 to 2-1, but goals from Graeme Mulcahy and Tom Morrissey saw the Treaty lead by ten at the interval. They never looked back…

Upon the resumption, Lynch netted a free, bagged his second goal at the three-quarters stage, pointed a penalty via the top of the crossbar and finished another free to the net three minutes from time. Kevin O'Brien hit the winners' other major not long after entering the fray.

Limerick - N Quaid; S Cahill, R McCarthy, R English; C Ryan, S Hickey, D Hannon; J Fitzgibbon, J Ryan (0-1); K Hayes, T Morrissey (1-3), C Lynch; G Mulcahy (1-1), R Lynch (3-11, 2-5f, 0-2'65, 0-1pen), S Tobin (0-4). Subs: W O'Donoghue for K Hayes, D O'Donovan for C Lynch, P Ryan for J Fitzgibbon, A La Touche Cosgrave (0-1) for G Mulcahy, K O'Brien (1-0) for S Tobin.

Kerry - A McCabe; B Murphy, R Horgan, S Weir; P Costello, P Kelly (0-1), D Dineen; P O'Connor, C Harty; S Nolan (0-5f), M Boyle, J Conway (0-1); K Carmody, P Boyle (3-0), J Goulding (0-1f). Subs: J O'Connor for M Boyle, J Buckley for P Costello, J Wallace for K Carmody, S Murphy for J Conway, J Godley for P Kelly.

Referee - A Kelly.

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