Kerry hit five goals against Derry in the league in Tralee last season, and they repeated the dose with a 5-23 to 0-12 Division 2 win over the Oakleaf County at Celtic Park.
The contest was as good as over after just six minutes with the away side raising three green flags.
Daniel Casey, Colin Walshe and Oisín Maunsell all struck in that early blitz, and by the interval it was a case of how much the Kingdom would win by as they led 3-16 to 0-05.
Derry stopped the bleeding - from goals anyway - until Ronan Walsh fired home a 53rd-minute penalty and the same player added a fifth as the game ticked into additional time.
Meath produced a power-packed second-half performance to beat London 1-20 to 1-10 in Trim in their Division 2 opener.
Mikey Cole's goal after seven minutes, coupled with some fine shot-stopping from Gavin King, allowed the Royals to lead for most of the first half, but David Devine, Fionn Ó Riain Broin, Paul Kennedy and Dylan Dawson all hit a brace to draw the Exiles level at the break, 1-05 to 0-08.
Meath made a fast start to the second half with three Tom Shine frees followed by efforts from Mark Leavy and Daire Shine to push them five ahead. The Shines, Tom and Daire, added further scores before London got off the mark in the second half – but at that stage they were 1-15 to 0-09 behind.
They did battle to get the gap back to six points with 10 minutes remaining, but Meath tagged on a couple of scores for a comfortable Round 1 win.
In Division 3, Louth made the short trip home from Armagh with two points following a 1-20 to 1-15 win.
The first 10 points were evenly shared, but from there Louth were able to stay in front for the rest of the half.
The always reliable Darren Geoghegan was racking up the scores and Laois native Ciaran McKelvey helped himself to a couple of scores as Louth led 0-13 to 0-08 at the break - Jack Loughran top-scoring for Armagh.
Louth suffered a big blow at the start of the second half as Kyle Rafferty was sent off but Geoghegan kept the scoreboard ticking before the hosts were then reduced to 14 when Dylan McKenna was sent off.
Louth looked good for the points, but a late surge saw Armagh draw level with Aaron Cullinane finding the net with just a few minutes remaining, but McKelvey hit 1-02 in the final minutes to secure the win.
In Division 4, goals proved crucial for Cavan as they earned a 3-13 to 1-13 home win over Warwickshire.
Eamon Og McAllister found the net for Cavan in the 17th minute before Darragh McAllister - who was later sent off - responded with a goal for the visitors as they led 1-07 to 1-05 at the halfway stage.
However, goals from Mark Moffett, minutes after he had been introduced, and Sean Keating saw Ollie Bellew's side take the win.
Sligo dispatched hosts Monaghan at ease in a comfortable 2-20 to 0-08 victory at Inniskeen.
In breezy conditions, the Yeats County registered six of the opening seven scores.
Monaghan were under the cosh for most of the half, with Robert O'Kelly Lynch picking off seven points – the final one coming inside his own half – as Sligo led 0-13 to 0-03.
The one-way traffic continued after the break.
Gerard O’Kelly Lynch found the back of the net in the 42nd minute after being set up by Thomas Cawley to push the lead out to 16 points. Seven minutes later the pair repeated the trick, with Gavin Connolly rounding off the scoring as the visitors ran out 18-point winners.
Longford left Carrick-on-Shannon with the points after a 2-17 to 0-20 victory over hosts Leitrim at Páirc Seán MacDiarmada.
Martin Farrell’s 11th minute goal gave the visitors an early cushion and that was maintained until the interval where Longford lead by four points, 1-10 to 0-11.
The opening four points after the resumption were evenly split and all from placed balls. It took 11 minutes for a score from play, and when Leitrim split the posts it reduced the gap to the bare minimum.
It was nip-and-tuck until Ronan Courtney struck for Longford’s second green flag after enterprising play from substitute Daire Regan.
That took the wind out of Leitrim’s sails, who played the final five minutes of the game with 14 men.
