Kildare's long march to the mountain top overcame another significant obstacle with victory over champions Kerry in yesterday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland semi-final. This latest success means that Kildare have beaten the three most recent All-Ireland winners during an historic season.

Although the football was forgettable and Kerry surprisingly poor, Kildare can take considerable pride in a result achieved after a finish tight enough to discourage most first-time semi-finalists.

It was also achieved in the absence of the team's star midfielder Niall Buckley, whose thigh had to be heavily strapped and who, despite an appearance in the team photograph, gave way to Ken Doyle before the throw-in.

In a match expected to be marginally but definitely tilting towards the champions, a loss of this nature seemed fatal to the challengers' chances. The firm consignment of Buckley to the bench speaks volumes for the clear thinking of manager Mick O'Dwyer - as well as for his confidence.

Risking a player who wasn't completely fit could have had a negative influence on yesterday's match as well as perhaps aggravating the injury four weeks before the final. In the event, Kildare coped with the loss well.

Dermot Earley moved from the wing to the middle and fetched a reasonable return of high ball in his duel with Dara O Se.

Kildare's style eschews an over-reliance on high fielding - despite Buckley and Willie McCreery's ability in the air - and it was more for his athleticism and distribution that the Sarsfields man was missed, as midfield produced no clearcut winner.

It was the least celebrated member of the quartet, Kerry's Donal Daly, who caught the eye. He won possession, distributed it well and got forward well. But the match was won and lost elsewhere.

Kerry can complain about the decision which disallowed a Denis Dwyer goal in the 64th minute, but ultimately their forwards didn't perform to the standard expected of them. Only two, Dara O Cinneide and the impressive John Crowley, managed more than one score from play.

Having established their biggest lead of the day at 0-4 to 0-2, they went a disastrous 32 minutes without scoring between the 16th minute and the 48th, at which stage they trailed by five.

Kildare's defence was solid as ever but a more enterprising attack would have taken more off them. Plaudits, as ever this season, go to Brian Lacey, whose play at right corner back has trampled over a few reputations.

Yesterday he faced the biggest reputation so far. Maurice Fitzgerald hasn't been as prominent this championship but his Croke Park form in recent years - including a tour de force in the All-Ireland final 11 months ago - has been excellent. But even his usually faultless free-taking was on the blink yesterday.

Elsewhere things weren't a lot better for Kerry. Crowley proved a handful for Ronan Quinn and was the best of the forwards, scoring 1-1. O Cinneide also played well. Glen Ryan gave him plenty of space and he scored 0-2 and made 1-2 before becoming a bit peripheral to the action. Michael Francis Russell threatened more than he achieved and neither Pa Laide - whose troubled season continued - nor William Kirby made much impact on the wings.

There were still chances which went a-begging, and despite the added urgency of substitutes Liam Brosnan and Denis Dwyer, the threat was looking inadequate for most of the second half.

Alarm bells must have rung for the champions at half-time after 35 minutes of benefiting from the wind had failed to yield more than four points. Despite facing the breeze, Kildare got to the interval a point ahead, 0-5 to 0-4.

Just as Kerry's forwards were under-performing, Kildare's were doing a bit better than generally expected. Karl O'Dwyer gave a fine display throughout the 70 minutes against his former team-mates. His style had obviously prompted some thought among Paidi O Se and his selectors because the Kerry full-back line was reshuffled before the start.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice was given the task of shadowing O'Dwyer in his rovings and although he stuck to his task, the Kildare full forward saw a lot of the ball. His leadership was also in evidence in the second half when he took on a 45 and a 45-metre free and pointed both.

Kerry's usual full back, Barry O'Shea, was switched onto Martin Lynch, a curious decision given the Tralee man's difficulties in the air. Nonetheless he marked Lynch quite well for most of the match, but conceded two points and a converted free.

Stephen Stack was least troubled of the line. His man, Padraig Graven, was substituted, but chipped in from the placed ball for four points.

It had been expected that the Kerry half backs would be the team's most potent unit, but even here there were problems. Eamonn Breen was booked just after half-time and Liam Flaherty switched to the wing - presumably to bring Seamus Moynihan's restraining influence to bear on Declan Kerrigan's role as a linkman.

Although Kerry's prospects were bleak at half-time they weren't necessarily terminal. Kildare's short game was less likely to use the wind than Kerry had tried to. But the Leinster champions still came out aggressively. Within 11 minutes of the restart, they had stretched the lead to 0-9 to 0-4.

Given the unimpressiveness of their attacking strategy, Kerry looked out of the championship even at this early stage. Kildare were pressing forward, with captain Glen Ryan, cutting through from centre back, a prominent engine of forward movements. His interception of a misdirected ball to O Cinneide set up Eddie McCormack for the ninth point.

Attempts at a comeback looked for appearances only as the match went into the final quarter. Points from Fitzgerald - his first coming after all of 48 minutes - and O Cinneide were answered by O'Dwyer.

Then the match turned. Moynihan broke forward, exchanged passes with Russell, before picking out O Cinneide, whose dangerous ball across goal was taken by Crowley and squeezed into the net from a very tight angle.

Such momentum as that generated was slowed by Graven's free-kick in response a minute later to push the margin to two points once more. Despite the edginess, Kildare still had greater composure and again it was Ryan who underlined the fact by taking a ball well up the field and having all the time in the world to pick out Lynch, whose shot while he was falling doubled the margin to 0-12 to 1-7.

The final 10 minutes brought plenty of excitement. Kildare substitute Padraig Brennan ignored McCreery's run into space until the latter was surrounded. Three minutes later Denis Dwyer's fisted goal was disallowed before Fitzgerald staged a late show of two frees to cut the margin again to one.

The last kick was a gamble in that the referee must have indicated that there was less than a minute remaining.

Insufficient to close that gap but enough to bridge another - that stretching back to 1919 when Galway and Kildare met for the only time in an All-Ireland final.