Kerry will meet Galway in next Sunday's NFL Division One final after outmanoeuvring injury-hit Laois in a 1-15 to 0-10 win in Killarney.
Jack O'Connor's men proved too good for the midlanders, who missed two goal chances when Billy Sheehan hit the crossbar and Brian McCormack just skimmed a shot over in the second half.
Minus the talents of defender Aidan Fennelly (torn hamstring) and forward Chris Conway (knee ligaments), Laois slotted 2003 All-Star Joe Higgins in at corner back and the two Colm Kellys were added to the attack.
And Mick O'Dwyer's men got off to a solid start. Bryan Sheehan pointed Kerry in front in the second minute but Stradbally's Colm Kelly and Ross Munnelly (2) soon pushed Laois into a 0-03 to 0-01 lead.
The Kingdom though clicked through the gears and ominously twice snapped into a double scores lead – 0-06 to 0-03, and then 0-08 to 0-04.
A Kieran Donaghy pass played in Colm Cooper for his first point on 13 minutes. Then, after Fergal Byron had saved superbly from Cooper, Sheehan popped over the resultant '45 to level and Kerry went 0-04 to 0-03 ahead when St. Mary's clubman Sheehan sent over a sweet effort from 52 yards out. Centre forward Eamonn Fitzmaurice grabbed a quick brace of points to push Kerry onto 0-06.
Kerry were turning the screw but Munnelly's third point, from a Tom Kelly set-up, kept Laois in the hunt. Aside from a Padraig Clancy point, four minutes from the break, it was all-Kerry for the remainder of the half.
Sheehan swung over his fourth point from a free and Paul Galvin fisted over from close range for 0-08 to 0-04. After Clancy's strike, Kerry worked the ball downfield and Dara O'Se delivered a perfect long ball for Cooper to drill low past the advancing Byron and into the Laois net.
O'Dwyer reacted to Laois' 0-05 to 1-08 deficit at the break by bringing on the twin threats of Colm Parkinson and Brian 'Beano' McDonald, but they had little impact.
Kerry pushed eight points clear with scores from Ronan O'Connor and the on-fire Sheehan, who landed a free from 57 yards out. Laois then struck three wides before Billy Sheehan fisted over. Galvin was quick to move in off his right wing and blast over for a 1-11 to 0-06 Kerry lead.
Laois' luck evaded them when a thunderbolt shot from Sheehan crashed off the Kerry crossbar. McDonald and Galvin traded points before Cooper fisted over to maintain Kerry's dominance.
McDonald tagged on his second point from a free before McCormack's rising 66th-minute drive was only inches away from raising a green flag for Laois.
The midlanders' afternoon was ended when Kerry substitute Darren O'Sullivan thumped over two points in two minutes and the sides' first League meeting since 2002 ended with a Billy Sheehan point right on full-time.
Kerry's opponents in the decider will be Galway, who beat Mayo this afternoon in Castlebar, with the venue to be decided on in the next 24 hours.
