IT'S hard to think of a single deviation from the wholly predictable in Saturday evening's Guinness Munster hurling semifinal in lovely conditions at Stack Park, Tralee before an attendance of 4,300.

Kerry battled hard but were swept aside by a competent and reasonably fluent Tipperary, whose only nasty shock was a first half injury to Nicholas English who had to be helped back to the dressingroom at halftime, with a calf injury.

On the positive side, Tipperary will be moderately pleased with a number of performances. How much is really to be learned from the exercise is questionable, but last year's minor Liam Cahill was sharp and productive for a final total of 1-4 and John Leahy played a devastating cameo before being replaced in the second half.

Leahy, whose best news of the weekend was undoubtedly the avoidance on Friday of a custodial sentence from an English court, had a scoring burst before half time which killed off the match completely.

For John Meyler's Kerry, the match had its frustrations. They competed as hard as they could, but lack of summer hurling practice could be seen in bouts of clumsiness and deficiencies of touch.

Tipperary took some smart points early on, but Kerry were competing. Mike Hennessy was the outstanding figure at midfield and goal chances were created but not taken - including when Hennessy himself pointed a 10th minute penalty.

Nevertheless, even by the 29th minute they were keeping the margin to six points and had reacted to early danger signs by replacing both corner backs. In the dying minutes of the half, Tipperary cut loose. Firstly, Leahy soloed through the defence to crash home the opening goal. Within seconds Thomas Dunne added another with a crisp drive and by half time, four minutes later, Cahill and Leahy had added further goals.

It was understandable that Tipperary slackened in the second half, but they weren't averse to trying a few shots on goal.

Kerry dug in and with wing backs Christy Ross and Liam O'Connor weighing in behind Hennessy, they created more chances one of which Martin McKivergan converted to the net in the 49th minute. Their perseverance was also rewarded with a late burst of scoring that saw Jerry O'Sullivan take 1-1.