Kerry start season with win over Clare in Munster

Clare's historic 1992 Munster final victory over Kerry remains the last time the Banner footballers sacked the Kingdom in Championship football after the reigning provincial champions eased to a 2-23 to 0-17 victory to remain on course for a fourth successive Munster title.

Two goals in the first four minutes laid the foundation for Kerry's win, but credit to Clare who absorbed those early and catastrophic body blows and matched Kerry for the remainder of the first half.

There was a pre-match air of anticipation in the Fitzgerald Stadium, most of it down to the fact Kerry showed five changes from the team that lost the League final to Dublin in April and eight changes to the team that started last year's All-Ireland final, rather than any expectation of a Clare win that would have been a seismic shock.

Much focus was on Kerry's two Championship debutants, Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Tadhg Morley, who manned the wing back positions, and to good effort too, especially Morley. The dropping of Marc Ó Sé and David Moran also raised eyebrows but, for now, Eamonn Fitzmaurice's courage has been vindicated.

The game was barely 90 seconds old when Colm Cooper kicked for a point but saw his under-cooked shot catch Joe Hayes off his goal line and the ball nestled in the Clare net. To concede that first goal was unfortunate, but the second was plain careless. David Tubridy and Stephen O'Brien had traded points before the latter stole onto Donnchadh Walsh's measured pass and saw his shot hit both posts before hitting the net.

Another O'Brien point made it 2-2 to 0-1 after seven minutes and Clare looked to be in for a torching. And yet, somehow, they cleared their heads and played some decent football. Podge Collins pointed and Eoin Cleary converted a sideline ball.

Paul Geaney scored two in quick succession for Kerry and the hosts continued to threaten more goals - in the 19th minute O'Brien's shot shaved the crossbar on the way over. That score put Kerry 2-7 to 0-4 ahead but Gary Brennan and Cleary pointed to keep the Banner in touch.

Geaney and Cooper then tacked on a brace for Kerry; Brennan and Cathal O'Connor replied in kind, and Killian Young Pearse Lillis - on as a black card replacement for Podge Collins - swapped added time points to leave it 2-10 to 0-9 at the break.

The second half played out along expected lines, with Kerry controlling the game and Clare chasing it. Early points from Darran O'Sullivan (2), Bryan Sheehan and Cooper gave some breathing space at the start of the second half, and the gap simply widened as the half wore on.

Kerry emptied their bench and, arguably, ended the same with a stronger team than started. Marc Ó Sé, David Moran and Anthony Maher were called into service, with Barry John Keane scoring two off the bench.

David Tubridy and Pearse Lillis were the best of the Clare forwards but they never threatened Brian Kelly's goal and were well beaten before the final whistle.

For Kerry it's onto an unexpected Munster Final meeting with Tipperary, but quite what Fitzmaurice will have learned from this remains to be seen.

Kerry: Brian Kelly, Shane Eright, Mark Griffin, Killian Young (0-1), Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Peter Crowley, Tadhg Morley, Kieran Donaghy, Bryan Sheehan (0-2f), Paul Murphy (0-1), Colm Cooper (1-3, 0-1f), Donnchadh Walsh, Darran O'Sullivan (0-2), Paul Geaney (0-5, 1f), Stephen O'Brien (1-5).

Subs: Marc Ó Sé for T Morley (48), David Moran (0-1) for B Sheehan (50), Jonathan Lyne for Ó Beaglaoigh (52), Barry John Keane (0-2) for D O'Sullivan (54), Michael Geaney for Walsh (56), Anthony Maher (0-1) for Donaghy (64), K Young (injured, 67 not replaced), M Geaney (black card 73 not replaced)

Clare: Joe Hayes, Dean Ryan, Kevin Hartnett, Martin McMahon, Sean Collins, Gordon Kelly, Cian O'Dea, Gary Brennan, Cathal O'Connor, Eoin Cleary, Jamie Malone, Shane McGrath, Keelan Sexton, David Tubridy, Podge Collins.

Subs: Pearse Lillis for P Collins (black, 28), Pat Burke for S McGrath (46), Shane Hickey for S Collins (52), Sean Malone for O'Dea (59), Declan McMahon for G Kelly (black, 66)

Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford)