Tom Humphries reports from Croke Park.From the great dusty trunk of the memory they'll retrieve this day again and again. Hold it up to the light and blow the cobwebs off it. They aren't a sentimental people but they know what's special and what is ordinary.

Kerry against Cork in Croke Park is special. A 15-point winning margin enhances everything that is good in the world. This was a day Kerry will quietly enjoy.

The novelty of it merely adds to its gleam. An All-Ireland semi-final. Kerry in Croke Park having taken the long road and having been beaten by Cork while they were doing it. Kerry had a bad experience at this stage last year and in their cagey way would have feared that they might have peaked a little too soon this summer. Then there was the Darragh Ó Sé vanishing red card business.

They could never have thought it would lead to a Sunday afternoon which would in the end entertain so little argument. A 15-point margin and the conclusion one assumes of the Larry Tompkins era. An All-Ireland final ticket and the light burden of outrageous and prohibitive favouritism. Their biggest challenge will be to talk themselves down over the next few weeks. If they talk at all that is.

Kerry against Cork in Croke Park. A neighbours squabble elevated to the Supreme Court. Kerry won in every way. On style. On discipline. On the scoreboard. Yesterday they had won indeed by the time opening statements concluded. The scored six points without reply in nine minutes. They spliced,they diced, they sliced. They sautéed Cork.

After 10 minutes Colin Corkery mustered an indignant reply. Kerry immediately tagged another 1-2 on to their total. Poor Corkery was only beginning to comprehend what a miserable day he was going to have.

How long is it since the Kerry forward line hummed with the electricity provided by Maurice Fitzgerald, Noel Kennelly, Aodán MacGearailt and Johnny Crowley? How long since Declan Quill was to be the new golden boy? It's only months, isn't it? Better perhaps to ask where you were when you first heard of Colm Cooper. He scored 1-5 from play yesterday, bringing his total for the season to 3-13. Of that 3-10 has come in the last four matches, against Fermanagh, Kildare, Galway and now Cork. The young lad looks as if he might fall through the holes in a string vest. He'd be the first you'd take off in a bad tempered old day like yesterday. But he thrives. He makes everything look easy. He ghosts away from corner backs who have murder in their eyes.

And he's honest. Built like a sunflower he could hit the deck every time a finger is laid on him but he hangs in there, stays on his feet no matter what is flying around. It was into the second half yesterday before Kerry even had a close-in free.

And Mike Frank Russell. It seems as if he's been playing since about 1954 now. He embodies the Kerry tradition as firmly as a currach bobbing in from Valencia. He has that quiet all business and no talk way about him and all he knows about style is channelled into his football. He was wondrous yesterday.

Between Russell and Cooper is not the place to be if you wish to draw compliments but Dara Ó Cinnéide played well at full forward yesterday, looking like the player we expected him to be when he burst through. He was strong and he was smart, putting the ball about nicely. This is his best season in some time.

That Kerry full-forward line has a lean and hungry look about it now that we haven't seen since the 1970s. They had scored 2-8 from play by half-time yesterday and you could get a measure of the pain they had inflicted when an otherwise gracious Larry Tompkins was asked about their performance afterwards.

"Yeah what did they score in Páirc Uí Chaoimh?," snapped Larry, "they were good today. They mightn't be the next day."

That was June 23rd. This was August 25th. Most forwards would rather be good in August. What they did back when the summer was young scarcely matters anymore. Look what they have learned to do since.

For a while in the second half the game teetered a bit under the aggregate weight of Cork's frustration and referee Brian White's uncertainty. It seems strange that for 20 seconds or so of the second-half anything between a dozen and 20 blows could be struck with fists right under the referee's eyes with just one yellow card being produced.

Strange and leading inevitably to worse. Within quarter of a hour three players would be sent off for more minor incursions.

Fionán Murray and Tom O'Sullivan walked the plank in the 58th minute when O'Sullivan shipped a late shoulder from Murray after he'd taken possession of the ball. O' Sullivan snapped. Blows were thrown. On Murray's part they were mainly received. Both got red cards.

Before they could leave they were joined by Colin Corkery, whose red boots are made for walking as well as scoring. Corkery, in fairness, had a day of unalloyed frustration. The ball coming into him was bad. The amount of his jersey which was getting grabbed was significant. He hadn't taken the frustration lying down, however, and his second yellow wasn't unsurprising. When he left the field Cork's last slim chance went with him.

Kerry added their third goal soon afterwards, a tragedy or a comedy depending on your point of view. Eoin Brosnan launched a lob. Seán Levis and Kevin O' Dwyer flapped at it like a couple of morris dancers on the Cork line. The ball dropped into the net. In all Kerry scored 1-5 in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Páidí Ó Sé afterwards explained how easy it was to prime his team to pile cruelty onto cruelty. A year ago Páidí had been riven to his bench in despair as Meath took his team apart This year's local spice made things easier.

"We conceded a goal before the break and it kept us focused. This is always a local derby, always great rivalry there, each county knows the other. It was easy enough to motivate them."

Larry Tompkins has acquired wisdom with age. Nothing rash passed his lips.

On the referee? "No. I might get suspended again." On the sending off incidents? "Don't know. As I say I'd better not make any rash comments, leave that to another day. Kerry came out of the blocks quick. Played good football."

Did he feel it was gone at half time? "I don't think that would be a fair statement. We always felt we could win. I'm proud of everyone of those guys."

Compare Kerry this year as opposed to last year. "What happens on the day, happens on the day."

Kerry roll back home to await the outcome of next week's semi-final between Dublin and Armagh.

They have a happy history against either county. They have the blessings of form and youth and tradition. They rate themselves as long shots. They're back.