David Clifford starred with 0-10 as Kerry made easy pickings of All-Ireland champions Armagh at a sold-out Austin Stack Park .
Showing real bite, and determination not seen in their league campaign so far, Jack O'Connor’s charges held an impressive 13-point lead – 2-13 to 0-06 - at half-time with goals from Dylan Geaney and Paudie Clifford (penalty) setting the Kingdom on their way.
From there, Kerry continued to turn up the heat as darkness fell but a late flurry of points from Kieran McGeeney's men reduced the hosts' winning margin to 10.
A strong Kerry defence performance proved to be the difference against an Armagh side who managed just eight points from play.
The home side got off to a flying start and should have been a goal up inside 30 seconds - a sign of things to come.
However, Blaine Hughes superbly saved a close-range David Clifford shot on goal to deny the Fossa man after an inch-perfect Micheál Burns pass had split the Armagh defence to find the 2023 Footballer of the Year.
Inside eight minutes, Kerry were four to the good with the Clifford brothers scoring all of them – three close-range frees from David and a well-taken point from play from his older brother Paudie.
Two minutes later, Kerry had scored their opening goal of the game.
Kieran McGeeney's side couldn’t deal with the fast-attacking approach as Dylan Geaney raising the green flag after just 10 minutes, finding space in the middle of a stretched Armagh defence, making it 1-05 to 0-01 in favour of the hosts.
11' Kerry 1-06 Armagh 0-01
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) March 15, 2025
It's a mess defensively for Armagh as Kerry take full control of this contest early on #RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/AMUnsr32MS
Armagh had narrowed the deficit to seven points through points from Rory Grugan and Conor Turbitt (free) but a David Clifford free – his fifth point of the evening – followed by a well-taken penalty by his brother Paudie had Kerry 11 points up by the 23rd minute.
A magnificent long ball in by Joe O’Connor found David Clifford and the lively corner-forward hand-passed in the direction of Burns before the Dr Crokes forward was adjudged to have been pulled down by Oisin Conaty as he bore down on goal.
The elder of the Clifford brothers made no mistake as his penalty made it 2-08 to 0-03 in favour of the Kingdom.
From here, Kerry scored four of the next points – Paul Geaney, David Clifford, Joe O’Connor and Jason Foley – to take a very comfortable 2-12 to 0-04 lead into the break.
Both sides exchanged points early on in the second half but a mini-Armagh revival gave McGeeney’s men a glimmer of hope heading into the final 10 minutes.
Six points in a row from Armagh up to the hour mark made it a more interesting finish with efforts from Oisin O’Neill, Rory Grugan and substitute Stefan Campbell cutting the gap to eight points.
However, with eight minutes to go substitute Tony Brosnan pointed to stop the rot for Kerry.
The hosts scored three of the last five points to run out 10-point winners, easing relegation concerns while giving themselves a slim chance of being in with a shout of this year's league final.
Kerry: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley (0-01), Dylan Casey; Gavin White (capt), Mike Breen, Brian Ó Beaglaíoch; Diarmuid O’Connor, Joe O’Connor (0-01); Micheál Burns (0-01), Paudie Clifford (1-02, 1-00p), Seán O’Brien (0-01); David Clifford (0-10, 7f), Paul Geaney (0-01), Dylan Geaney (1-01).
Subs: Graham O'Sullivan for Casey (temporary 34-half time), Tony Brosnan (0-03) for Dylan Geaney (49), Graham O’Sullivan for Ó Beaglaíoch (57), Conor Geaney for Burns (61), Killian Spillane for Paul Geaney, Ruairí Murphy for O’Connor (both 66).
Armagh: Blaine Hughes; Aidan Forker, Barry McCambridge, Paddy Burns (capt.); Connaire Mackin, Greg McCabe, Peter McGrane; Ciaran Mackin, Oisin O’Neill (0-04, 1f, 1 tpf); Jarly Og Burns (0-01), Rory Grugan (0-07, 4f), Darragh McMullan; Conor Turbitt (0-01, 0-01f), Andrew Murnin (0-01), Oisin Conaty (0-01).
Sub: Ben Crealey for Murin (temporary 10-14), Crealey for Mackin (32), Stefan Campbell (0-02) for Forker (half-time), Shane McPartian for Turbitt (52), Jemar Hall for McMullan (55), Joe McElroy for Mackin (63).
Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)
