Cork will be odds on favourites to regain the Munster SFC title next month after dispatching a lacklustre Kerry side at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
The Rebels reeled off four successive points to lead by 0-07 to 0-04 at the break, with notable scores from Colm O’Neill and Donncha O’Connor.
Captain Colm Cooper, who finished with 0-05, and lively substitute James O’Donoghue tried to lift Kerry, but Cork kept the scoreboard ticking over and two late points from O’Neill sealed it.
The five-point victory sees Conor Counihan’s men through to meet Clare in the provincial decider at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday, 8 July.
Pearse O’Neill and Fintan Goold were late withdrawals from the Cork team owing to injury, and their places were taken by Nicholas Murphy and the fit-again Ciaran Sheehan.
The changes saw the Rebels regularly rotate their forwards with Murphy marked at full-forward by Aidan O’Mahony, who was one of four changes to the Kerry side that beat Tipperary.
Kieran Donaghy, Marc Ó Sé and Seamus Scanlon were also added to the Kingdom line-up, Scanlon standing in at centre-field for knee injury victim Bryan Sheehan.
The bruising physicality and tetchiness of the opening minutes gave way to a game that ebbed and flowed at a decent pace but lacked the quality so often associated with these counties.
Sheehan, back from his cruciate injury, dropped the first shot short of the posts and Cooper also failed to get a clean connection after breaking past Michael Shields.
O’Connor edged the hosts ahead with a right-footed effort in the second minute, before Cooper played in Declan O’Sullivan for the leveller two minutes later.
Clever foot-passing, allied to the interchanging of their forwards, allowed Cork press home an early advantage. A terrific left-footed lob from Sheehan was followed by O’Connor’s second point from play, created by Paddy Kelly’s crisp delivery.
In the ninth minute, Paul Galvin familiarised himself with old foe Eoin Cadogan and had his name noted by referee David Coldrick.
There were few flashpoints in a first half that saw Kerry winning the majority of the breaks but overrunning the ball at times, with Kieran Donaghy, the regular target man, operating away from the square for long spells.
After good interplay between Donaghy and Kieran O’Leary, Cooper scooped over a good point and the Kingdom were back level in the 13th minute, O’Leary showing his sharpness again and Cooper finishing off a free.
Despite a less than adequate supply, the Kerry forwards did have the better of the scoring chances and soon created a second goal-scoring opportunity.
Donaghy should have backed himself when given a sight of goal by Declan O’Sullivan, the Tralee giant instead electing to pass to Cooper who was crowded out and had his shot blocked.
Kerry endured a couple of wides, including a missed ‘45’ from goalkeeper Brendan Kealy, before Cooper tapped over a close range for a 20th minute lead.
Although he struck a poor wide from a free off the ground, O’Neill redeemed himself moments later with a well-taken score on the run to square it up at 0-04 apiece.
Kerry, looking off the boil, failed to score for the remainder of the first half as Cork retook the lead. Paul Kerrigan dashed forward to kick them ahead in the 23rd minute.
O’Neill added a free six minutes later and also converted a placed ball in injury-time. In between, Kerry again failed to convert their chances – Cooper dropped a free short, Tomás Ó Sé had a shot deflected wide and Kealy drifted a ‘45’ away to the right of the posts.
However, they started the second half strongly. Half-time substitutes Johnny Buckley and James O’Donoghue combined for a much-needed point for Kerry, their first since the 20th minute.
Playing with renewed spark and profiting from early ball, Kerry soon added their second point of the half with Donaghy setting up Declan O’Sullivan.
O’Connor replied from a free and after Murphy soared to claim a high ball, Marc Ó Sé infringed and O’Connor booted Cork back into a three-point lead (0-09 to 0-06).
O’Donoghue and Donaghy linked up to create the opening for Cooper’s fourth point of the afternoon, as both sides lifted the intensity.
Defender Paudie Kissane drilled over a fine score from distance. Tactically, Kerry were playing deeper and dropping back to defend which left Donaghy lacking support at times.
Having struck a poor wide from a free, Galvin raised Kerry hopes with a drilled effort from play and the gap was down to one - 0-10 to 0-09 - when O’Donoghue pointed.
The young substitute’s second point came after Cork net minder Quirke stuck out his right boot to block a goal-bound shot from Declan O’Sullivan.
Kerrigan sprinted forward to kick Cork’s immediate response and Kerry needed a smart save from Kealy to deny Murphy who won a high ball and got a right-footed shot away.
In the aftermath, substitute Daniel Goulding managed to rifle over Cork’s 12th point. Kerry hit back shortly afterwards with a Cooper free, making it a two-point game once again.
Murphy was first to another long ball in, beating O’Mahony to it, and O’Connor got onto the break to fist over his fourth point with the hour mark in sight.
The tit-for-tat nature of the half continued as the impressive O’Donoghue provided the assist for the onrushing Eoin Brosnan to fire over from close range.
O’Connor atoned for a missed free to widen the margin to 0-14 to 0-11 and Goulding made it two-in-a-row to tighten Cork’s grip on proceedings.
With five minutes remaining, Darran O’Sullivan pointed to keep Kerry in the hunt and a degree of niggle crept in again with players squaring up to each other.
Kerry manager Jack O’Connor threw on Patrick Curtin and Barry John Keane for Donaghy and Galvin who had drifted out of the game off limited possession.
But there was no late comeback from last year’s Munster champions as they faded out of contention, in front of a 23,184-strong crowd.
O’Neill flashed a stinging shot inches over the crossbar when a goal was on the cards, but Cork did not need it on a day when their consistent play was enough. The final blow was a third successful free from O’Neill.
Scorers: Cork: D O’Connor 0-06 (0-02f), C O’Neill 0-05 (0-03f), P Kerrigan, D Goulding 0-02 each, C Sheehan, P Kissane 0-01 each
Kerry: C Cooper 0-05 (0-03f), Declan O’Sullivan, J O’Donoghue 0-02 each, P Galvin, E Brosnan, Darran O’Sullivan 0-01 each
CORK: Alan Quirke; Ray Carey, Michael Shields, Eoin Cadogan; Paudie Kissane, Graham Canty (capt), Noel O'Leary; Alan O'Connor, Aidan Walsh; Ciaran Sheehan, Donncha O’Connor, Paddy Kelly; Colm O'Neill, Nicholas Murphy, Paul Kerrigan.
Subs used: Daniel Goulding for Sheehan (52 mins), Barry O’Driscoll for Murphy (70), Eoin Cotter for Kissane, Mark Collins for Kerrigan (both 70+3).
KERRY: Brendan Kealy; Marc Ó Sé, Aidan O'Mahony, Killian Young; Tomás Ó Sé, Eoin Brosnan, Peter Crowley; Anthony Maher, Seamus Scanlon; Paul Galvin, Declan O'Sullivan, Darran O'Sullivan; Colm Cooper, Kieran Donaghy, Kieran O'Leary.
Subs used: James O’Donoghue for O’Leary, Johnny Buckley for Scanlon (both half-time), Patrick Curtin for Donaghy (63 mins), Barry John Keane for Galvin (66).
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)
