Kerry 3-13 Cork 1-9:Kerry retained their All-Ireland football title this afternoon, punishing some slack Cork defending ruthlessly to claim an emphatic win at headquarters.
In a disappointing final, both sides traded spells of domination in the first half although Kerry had the slight edge with their power in attack.
The game came to life in the 17th minute when Colm Cooper lost his marker and managed to punch a high ball over the advancing Cork goalkeeper Alan Quirke. Just three minutes later the Gooch missed a golden opportunity to grab a second goal as he blasted a close range shot over the bar.
Cork managed to stay with Kerry throughout the remainder of the first half although Kieran Donaghy felt, perhaps with some justification, he should have had a penalty when he was dragged down by Graham Canty. The referee opted to give the Kerry full forward the advantage but Donaghy fired wide.
Cork were relying on frees to stay in touch, in fact they only produced a single point from open play in the entire half. That score was the product of a flowing move involving Ger Spillane, James Masters and finished off by full forward Michael Cussen to leave the half-time score Kerry 1-6 to Cork's 0-6.
Cork came out for the second half still in contention for their seventh championship but just one minute in the game ended as a contest. Alan Quirke in the Cork goal came off his line to take possession off Ger Spillane, who was being hounded by Donnaghy.
Before Spillane could release the ball he had it taken off him by Donaghy who dispatched the ball into an unguarded net.
Kerry added a further four unanswered points before Cork could get their first score of the second half. This again was a free which cam in the 43rd minute and was dispatched by Donncha O'Connor.
But just four minutes later a mix up between Michael Shiels and Quirke gifted Donaghy a second goal to make the score 3-10 to 0-7.
Daniel Goulding came off the bench for Cork to score a goal in the 53rd minute which added some respectability to the scoreline.
But the Rebels managed to score just two further points, while Kerry added three to their comfortable lead.
By the final stages, the game had become almost like a training session for a Kerry team who saw out the game with a winning margin of ten points.