Kerry 1-17 Clare 2-6 Kerry struggled for long periods before they finally saw off a brave Clare side in their Munster semi-final at the Austin Stack Park, Tralee, last night.

Clare struck the first goal of the game through Keith Whelan. Kerry still led by 0-8 to 1-3 at the interval.

Kerry went on a scoring spree midway through the second half with Brian Looney scoring a goal and a point. Kerry were now in cruise control and, when Clare had John Hayes sent off, it was all over though Chris Dunning got a late consolation goal for Clare.

KERRY: G Kissane; C O'Mahony, M Moloney, K Young; J Wrenn, G Duffy, S Enright; K Brennan (0-1), A O'Sullivan (0-2); K O'Leary, D Murphy, J Falvey; M Boyle (0-2), P O'Connor (0-7, four frees), M O'Donoghue (0-2). Subs: P Curran (0-1) for M Boyle, B Looney (1-2) for J Falvey, T Walsh for D Murphy, S Lynch for C O'Mahony, A O'Sullivan for G Duffy.

CLARE: P de Loughrey; S Canavan, G Lyons, N Breen; C Lyons, J Hayes, S Flynn; D Cusack, D Ryan; S Cullinan (0-4, frees), K Whelan (1-0), D Tubridy; C Donnellan, P Connole, S Monaghan. Subs: C Dunning (1-2) for C Donnellan, D Considine for D Tubridy, S Farrell for S Monaghan, G Brennan for D Cussack.

Referee: M Meade ( Limerick).