Kerry cruise past Clare on emotional afternoon to land another Munster crown

David Clifford starred with 2-06 as Kerry made easy pickings of Clare to win their 84th Munster title in front of 12,499 at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

In what was the first Munster SFC final to be played outside either Killarney or Cork in 11 years, Kerry led by 10 points at half-time – 3-08 to 0-07 - thanks to first-half goals from Tony Brosnan, Dara Moynihan, and David Clifford, before the Clifford brothers, David and Paudie, each found the net in the second half.

The game saw three Kerry players reach quarter-century SFC appearances as Sean O'Shea, Jack Barry, and Gavin White made their 25th Championship appearance in the green and gold of the Kingdom.

It was the 14th Munster final meeting between Kerry and Clare – the first since 2000 – with the Kingdom having won 13 of the Munster showdowns between the two counties since first meeting in Cusack Park in October 1912.

Before the game, a minute’s silence was held in memory of Ellen Clifford, the mother of David and Paudie, who passed away after a long-term illness on Saturday.

As expected, it was Kerry who got off to the brighter of starts, and after Sean O’Shea uncharacteristically kicked wide a close-range free after just 50 seconds, Dylan Casey – making his first Championship start – opened the scoring for the All-Ireland champions.

Inside just 10 minutes, Jack O’Connor’s men had opened up a comfortable three-point lead after Dara Moynihan, David Clifford, and Gavin White added to Casey’s early score either side of a Stephen Ryan free – a sign of things to come.

The game looked like it was Kerry’s to lose when Tony Brosnan finished off a lovely move from the Kingdom just shy of the 15th minute mark.

The move, one that will certainly have pleased O’Connor on the sideline, saw