A blistering start that produced two goals inside the opening two minutes helped Munster under-21 champions Kerry to retain their title when they had a comfortable five-point victory over a highly-fancied Tipperary side at Austin Stack Park, Tralee, on Saturday afternoon.

Kerry got off to a dream start when midfield Tommy Griffin won the throw-in and set up senior star Pa O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan's initial shot came off the crossbar, but quickest to react was corner forward Ian Twiss who beat goalkeeper Paul Fitzgerald to give the champions a dream start. Kerry's second goal came when O'Sullivan found the net after a pass from Liam Brennan.

Kerry's Noel Kennelly extended his side's lead with a point before Tipperary's best forward, Declan Browne, opened his side's account with a fourth-minute point.

Then, in the 15th minute, Kerry struck for their third goal of the match when Noel Kennelly billowed the net after O'Sullivan did the donkey work.

Kerry led at half-time by 3-4 to 0-6 and with the home side having wind advantage in the second half, it appeared that Tipperary had it all to do if they were to repeat their shock semi-final victory over Cork. Tipperary did make life difficult for the Munster champions during the second half and a goal from Browne reduced the deficit to four points.

Kerry: D Moloney; M McCarthy, T O'Sullivan, K Leen; J Sheehan, T O'Shea, M Beckett; T Griffin (0-1), E Fitzmaurice; A MacGearailt (0-1), P O'Sullivan (1-3, 0-1 free), L Brosnan (0-2); I Twiss (1-1[ RO], 1 free), N Kennelly (1-1), B Scanlon. Subs: M Burke for Griffin (46 mins), J Dennehy for Twiss (47 mins).

Tipperary: P Fitzgerald; B Walsh (0-1), N Kelly, A Lacey; T Galvin (0-1), P Almond, M Cummins; D Fogarty, L England; P Cahill, J Carroll, B Maguire (0-5, 0-4 frees); D Burke (0-1), M O'Shea, D Browne (1-3, 0-2 frees). Subs: M O'Brien for England (half-time); E Hanrahan for Galvin (46 mins).

Referee: N Galvin (Cork).