Clare 2-28 Kerry 1-09
Podge Collins came on to make his first appearance of the year for Clare as they did all that was required of them to coast to a facile win at Cusack Park in Ennis.
Clare led by 0-15 to 0-06 at the interval and pulled away after the restart with goals from John Conlon and Bobby Duggan to set up a winner-takes-all promotion decider with neighbours Limerick in Ennis.
Kerry, having defeated Laois in their opening match but having now lost three on the spin, will play Offaly next weekend in a bid to hold on to their Division 1B status.
Davy Fitzgerald’s men were on top throughout and were well on their way to victory when they opened up a 0-07 to 0-01 lead after just 12 minutes.
Colm Galvin, a late replacement for David Fitzgerald, was in fine form and hit three of those opening scores, with David Reidy getting Clare off the mark with a point after just eight seconds.
Kerry struggled to get ball into attack and their only score in the opening quarter was a pointed free from John Egan.
Conor McGrath was also in superb form for the Banner, shooting 0-04 by the interval.
Kerry staged a small revival with a couple of frees from Egan and a good point from play from Michael O’Leary, but Duggan widened the gap with frees at the other end.
Shane O’Donnell twice came close to shooting the opening goal, rattling the crossbar with a flick before Kerry goalkeeper Aidan McCabe produced an excellent save to keep out a ground effort from the former All-Ireland hat-trick hero.
O’Leary got a second point for Kerry but Clare led by 0-15 to 0-06 at the interval, despite Duggan having a penalty saved by McCabe.
The one-way traffic continued after the restart with Clare shooting five points in rapid succession, including some excellent scores from Aaron Cunningham.
McCabe did well to save from David Reidy but he could do nothing when John Conlon got a flick to a Cunningham effort for the opening goal after 49 minutes.
Duggan stepped up to take a second penalty 12 minutes from time, making no mistake this time to extend Clare’s lead.
Kerry captain Daniel Collins scored a consolation goal from a long range free but Clare eased their way to an emphatic 22 points win to set up that mouth-watering clash with Limerick next Sunday.
Clare: D Tuohy; O O’Brien, P O’Connor, P Flanagan; B Bugler (0-01), D McInerney, C Cleary (0-01); D Reidy (0-02), C Ryan; J Conlon (1-00), B Duggan (1-07, 1-00 pen, 0-05f, 0-1 ’65), C Galvin (0-05); A Cunningham (0-06), S O’Donnell, C McGrath (0-05).
Subs: P Collins for Ryan (44 mins), C O’Connell (0-01) for O’Donnell (44 mins), A Shanagher for Conlon (49 mins), C O’Doherty for Flanagan (60 mins), D Honan for McGrath (67 mins).
Kerry: A McCabe; D Fitzell, P Kelly, K Carmody; D Collins (1-00f), D Dineen, T Murnane; T Casey, J Griffin; J Diggins (0-01), M O’Leary (0-02), C Harty; J Egan (0-04,3f), M Boyle, J Buckley (0-01).
Subs: S Weir for Fitzell (32 mins), J Conway for Boyle (45 mins), J Goulding for Harty (45 mins), B Brosnan (0-01) for Casey (51 mins), B O’Leary for Egan (51 mins).
Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).
