Kerry 6-27
Kildare 0-9
THREE FIRST-HALF goals from Mikey Boyle swept Kerry to the Christy Ring final and within 70 minutes of top-flight hurling after a shockingly one-sided semi-final at St Conleth’s Park.
Eamon Kelly’s crew led by 19 points at half time while Kildare were down to 14 men after the 26th minute sending off of substitute Mark Grace.
Grace was only on the pitch three minutes when referee Seán Cleere gave him his marching orders after an off-the-ball altercation with Boyle.
Boyle was also fouled for a penalty that was brilliantly saved by Paul Dermody.
The corner-forward grabbed a fourth goal in the second half as the rout continued, with Kildare failing to raise a gallop. This was a repeat of last year’s final pairing but lacked all of the intensity of that fixture. The result was different too, as Kildare won on that occasion.
From the moment Boyle took a pass off his brother, Pádraig and rattled the net however, there was no doubt about who would land the spoils on this occasion. The hosts did seem to settle into proceedings briefly and points from Declan Flaherty, Martin Fitzgerald and Mark Delaney had them trailing by just that Boyle major.
The margin had increased to seven by the time he scored his second and it was 3-13 to 0-3 at half time.
Shane Nolan, Boyle and Colum Harty added goals in the second half and only for the agility of Dermody, the margin would have been even greater.
Kerry will face Derry in the final at Croke Park on Saturday 6 June after a 0-23 to 2-12 win for The Oak Leaf County over Down.
Meanwhile, in the Lory Meagher Cup, Sligo defeated Fermanagh in Tubbercurry and Warwickshire got the better of Lancashire by a scoreline of 3-13 to 2-14.
Scorers – Kerry: S Nolan 1-7(5fs, 2 65s); M Boyle 4-1; P Boyle 0-5; M O’Leary 0-4; C Harty 1-1; J Egan, J Griffin, J O’Neill 0-2 each; K Carmody, B O’Leary, D Collins 0-1 each
Kildare: M Fitzgerald 0-2; M Delaney (f), D Flaherty, E O’Neill, P Divilly (f), G Keegan (f), D Stapleton, N Ó Muineacháin 0-1 each
Kerry
1 Stephen Murphy
2 Rory Horgan
3 Paud Costelloe
4 Bryan Murphy
5 Daniel Collins
6 Darren Dineen
7 Keith Carmody
8 John Griffin
9 John Egan
10 Michael O’Leary
11 Shane Nolan
12 Colum Harty
13 Mikey Boyle
14 Padraig Boyle
15 David Butler
Subs
21 John O’Neill for Butler (ht)
19 John Flaherty for O’Leary (51)
25 Seán Weir for Mikey Boyle (51)
22 Brendan O’Leary for Egan (55)
17 Thomas Casey for Griffin (55)
Kildare
1 Paul Dermody
2 Niall Ó Muineacháin
3 Fiachra Ó Muineacháin
4 John Doran
5 Dinny Stapleton
6 Mark Moloney
7 Éanna O’Neill
8 Martin Fitzgerald
9 Paul Divilly
10 Bernard Deay
11 Evan Dempsey
12 W Greene
13 Gerry Keegan
14 Declan Flaherty
15 Mark Delaney
Subs
26 Mark Grace for Doran (23)
17 Leo Quinn for Delaney (ht)
18 John Byrne for Greene (ht)
23 Kevin Whelan for M Moloney (45)
19 Niall Kenny for Divilly (63)
Referee: Sean Cleere (Kilkenny)