Antrim 1-18 Kerry 2-16
John Egan etched his name in Kerry hurling history with an injury-time winner to defeat Antrim at Parnell Park and ensure Allianz Hurling League Division 1B hurling for the Kingdom in 2016.
The St Brendan's man was only introduced with 13 minutes to go but hit the point that secured the most precious of victories.
Kerry had finished top or joint top of Division 2A for three seasons running but had consistently failed to gain promotion until now.
They remained on long odds coming to Parnell Park to face Antrim as Division 2A champions and were seven points down at half-time.
But a thrilling second-half performance with the wind at their backs that included two Colm Harty goals saw them draw level three times late on.
Extra-time loomed but Kerry managed to work the ball out to Egan who shot off balance but still managed to dissect the posts.
It's a disastrous result for Antrim who drop to the third tier of the league and will realise the system makes it difficult for them to return.
Kevin Ryan's side approached the tie with a wretched Division 1B record having lost all five of their group games. They also slipped to defeat to Laois in the relegation play-off though this tie gave them one last opportunity to save their status.
They took a commanding 0-11 to 0-3 half-time lead though it hardly reflected the exchanges in an evenly contested encounter.
Kerry kicked themselves after firing nine wides while they also failed to take any of the three goal chances they carved out.
They chased goals early on, perhaps with the memory still strong of the five they scored last weekend in the first 18 minutes of the Division 2A final win over Westmeath.
They had that game virtually wrapped up by half-time but that was never likely to be replicated here. Aside from facing 1B opposition, they were also firing into the teeth of a gale for the first 35 minutes.
Kerry coped well with the conditions early on and Antrim led by just 0-4 to 0-2 after 20 minutes. But four frees in a row from Paul Shiels put significant daylight between the sides.
In fact, Antrim tallied nine points without reply in the middle section of the opening half to take that sizeable interval lead.
It remained to be seen whether eight points was enough of an advantage as the Saffrons faced into the breeze themselves.
Kerry duly took advantage of the breeze with points from Patrick Kelly, Shane Nolan and John Griffin after the restart.
Antrim points from Shiels and sub Conor Johnson stemmed the Kingdom tide momentarily but the Munster men were quickly back on the offensive.
They fired 1-2 including a fine 46th minute Harty solo goal to leave just two in it with Antrim 0-13 to 1-8 ahead.
Antrim rallied for a period and PJ O'Connell netted but Harty's second goal for Kerry when he scooped in from close range after a defensive error left three in it.
It set up an exciting finale and the sides were level three times before Egan struck at the death for that famous winner.
Kerry: S Murphy, D Fitzell, P Costello, B Murphy, S Weir, D Dineen, D Collins (0-01), J Griffin (0-01), P Kelly (0-01), C Harty (2-00), S Nolan (0-08, 0-05f), M O'Leary (0-04), M Boyle, P Boyle, K Carmody.
Subs: J Egan (0-01) for Carmody, J Flaherty for P Boyle.
Antrim: C O'Connell, O McFadden, N McAuley (0-01), A Graffin, E McAlonan, N McManus (0-01), C McKinley, E Campbell, M Bradley (0-01), P Shiels (0-07, 0-07f), C Carson, D McKernan, PJ O'Connell (1-02), M Donnelly (0-01), C Clarke (0-03, 0-01f).
Subs: C Johnson (0-01) for McAlonan, M Dudley (0-01) for Carson, D Hamill for Bradley.
Referee: Sean Cleere (Kilkenny).
