By Declan Rooney
Five goals in 18 first-half minutes earned Kerry a 5-17 to 3-17 victory over Westmeath and their second Division 2A Allianz Hurling League final win in a row at the Gaelic Grounds.
The Kingdom now face Antrim next weekend in a play-off for the right to gain promotion to Division 1B.
Corner-forward Mickey Boyle rattled two of the five goals, while Shane Nolan, Colm Harty and Keith Carmody also hit the net before the interval for Eamonn Kelly's outfit.
Derek McNicholas goaled in each half for Westmeath, but they were unable to recover from the glut of goals before half-time.
Kerry, who won the division last year, fell behind early on as points from Darragh Clinton and Niall O'Brien got the midlanders off to the perfect start.
But their challenge fell asunder from there as Kerry began to benefit from long, direct deliveries into their full-forward line.
Nolan hit the first when he shook off the challenge of Gary Greville in the fifth minute as the sides swapped points to leave it 1-02 to 0-04 after nine minutes.
But Carmody and Boyle hit two goals in a minute – each arriving from long frees into the square – before Boyle rattled his second in the 18th minute following a great high catch from the corner-forward.
Harty's strike brought an end to a nightmare period as Kerry held a 5-05 to 1-06 advantage, but credit to Westmeath, who hit five points in a row before half-time, to reduce the deficit to just nine points, 5-08 to 1-11.
Padraig Boyle settled Kerry into the second-half with a long-range free to stretch his side's lead out to ten points, and any hope of a Westmeath comeback disappeared when Brendan Murtagh's goal from a free was ruled out when he crossed the 20-metre when striking.
A fine save from James Logue denied McNicholas after 52 minutes and from then on Kerry easily ran out winners despite Clinton's late goal for Westmeath a minute from time.
Kerry: J Logue; D Fitzell, D Dineen, B Murphy; S Weit, D Collins, P Costello; J Griffin (0-01), P Kelly (0-01); M O'Leary, S Nolan (1-03), C Harty (1-02); M Boyle (2-02), P Boyle (0-07, 0-06f), K Carmody (1-00).
Subs: J Egan for O'Leary (31 mins), P Lucid for Kelly (56-60 blood), J Flaherty (0-01) for Egan (57), T Casey for Carmody (64), P Lucid for Harty (66), A Royle for Weir (69).
Westmeath: P Collins; S Power, T Doyle, A Price; G Greville, A Clarke, L Varley; E Price (0-01), J Clarke; A Devine (0-01), B Murtagh (0-02, 0-01f), R Greville; N O'Brien (0-05, 0-05f), D McNicholas (2-01), D Clinton (1-04).
Subs: A Craig for A Price (16 mins), C Boyle (0-02) for Varley (h-t), A McGrath for J Clrke (47), N Dowdall (0-01) for Devine (54), E Corrigan for O'Brien (61).
Referee: Tony Carroll (Offaly).
