It was scrappy but, appropriately, those with the greater hunger made better use of the scraps. Kerry won yesterday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football semi-final by working their way through frequent moments of adversity, and ultimately emerged with a comfortable triumph over Ulster champions Cavan and a place in the county's first All Ireland final for 11 years.

The winners can thank a much-improved performance from their midfield of Dara O Se and William Kirby, whose efforts limited damage in the first half and maintained a generous supply to the forwards after the interval.

For all that, it took an inspired moment from the latest candidate for Kerry football's pantheon, Michael Francis Russell, to copperfasten the result. The 19-year old Killorglin forward, who - to Kerry's great credit - has been deployed very sparingly in deference to his youth, made a big impact when sent on for the final 20 minutes.

His goal in the 66th minute effectively decided the match. A through ball from Maurice Fitzgerald put Russell one-on-one with Ciaran Brady and he turned his marker before firing into the net.

Before the end he had added a point for a 1-1 tally.

That goal was Kerry's first score for nearly 15 minutes, during which their two-point lead hadn't looked sufficiently substantial to see them home. Success came because Cavan's gameplan, which had looked menacing in the first half, ground to a chaotic halt thereafter. Gradually emboldened, Kerry put them away in the closing five minutes.

Cavan had taken the early initiative. Varying their game effectively, they were unleashing their forwards with a facility that must have alarmed the tiny proportion of Kerry supporters in the big attendance.

Significantly, though, the Ulster champions hadn't made a commensurate impact on the scoreboard and at half-time led by only a point, 1-7 to 0-9, thanks to a fine goal by Fintan Cahill, who had been sent clear by Larry Reilly and held off the despairing challenge of Barry O'Shea before cracking home.

At the interval Kerry complained that a well-taken goal minutes previously by Eamonn Breen from a quickly-taken free had been wrongly disallowed, but referee Casserly had whistled and called back play.

Before the throw-in, both defences had switched their flankers, with those on the left moving right and vice versa. The move was more of a success for Kerry as Stephen Stack, now in the left corner, played well on Larry Reilly and in front of him, Seamus Moynihan and Peter Reilly had an interesting tussle which broke even until the Kerryman upped the ante in the second half and Reilly was pulled back into the Cavan defence.

In the early stages, a couple of trends were noticeable. For a start, Kerry's midfield was playing well and breaking even despite a growing contribution from Cavan captain Stephen King and moments of class from an otherwise subdued Dermot McCabe.

Secondly, Kerry's defence was taking no prisoners and broke up Cavan attacks by whatever means were handy. The effectiveness of this was enhanced by some early missed frees by Ronan Carolan.

Cavan were gradually getting on top and began to move ahead going into the second quarter. This could have happened earlier but in the 15th minute there had been a crucial intervention by Kerry's goalkeeper Declan O'Keeffe, who saved marvellously from Peter Reilly after a sweeping move involving King and Carolan.

At the other end of the field, Kerry's forwards were slow to get going. Pa Laide and Denis O'Dwyer (who had to be carried off after a nasty knock on half an hour) on the wings made a productive start and kicked early points but it was Dara O Cinneide in the right corner who posed the most consistent early threat, winning a good deal of ball and using it well.

Maurice Fitzgerald also came into the match towards the end of the first half and his place-kicking, although as in the Munster final not flawless, kept the scoreboard moving. Cavan's defence caused itself a good few problems by spoiling good cover work with lamentable clearances.

Billy O'Shea's 32nd-minute entry as a substitute for O'Dwyer was to play a role in Kerry's resurgence as he buzzed around, giving an energy to the approach play which had been previously missing.

His contribution was underlined in the second half when two points in quick succession regained for Kerry a lead they were never to lose.

For the second half, Paidi O Se and Seamus MacGearailt made a change at the back, bringing in Morgan O'Shea for Sean Burke in order to try and restrain Damien O'Reilly, who had enjoyed a rampant first half.

To an extent, the move proved irrelevant - although O'Reilly kept showing for ball - Cavan's gameplan disintegrated.

Their defence played the ball ludicrously short - the forwards would have got it quicker by post. Halfbacks went galloping up the field and in the congestion, their fast forwards were frequently squeezed for space. Meanwhile, Kirby and O Se took a grip at midfield and Kerry dominated territorially.

Cavan's substitutions didn't have any great impact. Jason Reilly's arrival pepped up the attack, but for the amount of ball he won pitiful little resulted, although a good case for a penalty was let go in the 63rd minute.

It was the northerners' last throw before Kerry's late blitz wrapped up a place in the final on September 28th against either Mayo or Offaly.