ALL-IRELAND JFC SEMI-FINAL/Lancashire 1-8 Kerry 1-17:FORMER KERRY senior star Aodán MacGearailt kicked six points as the county's junior side reached the All-Ireland final on Saturday night in Manchester.

British champions Lancashire started the brighter and Clare man Eoin Meaney gave the home side the lead through a free in the second minute.

Kerry moved through the gears and after half-back Eamon Hickson opened their account in the seventh minute the visitors settled. Don Murphy, MacGearailt (two frees) and Gary Sayers all raised white flags before John Buckley finished to the net in the 21st minute.

Leading by seven points late in the first half, Kerry were rocked by corner forward Richie Coss’s slick goal in the 28th minute. Before the restart, though, Lancashire were down to 14 men after Willie Ahern was red-carded for kicking out at a Kerry defender. MacGearailt converted another free to give Kerry a 1-7 to 1-2 interval lead.

Lancashire kicked the first three points of the second half but Kerry then went on a scoring spree with Buckley’s 47th minute point being the pick of their scores. Kerry now face Sligo in the final on August 21st.

LANCASHIRE: J Sheehan; R Gallagher, J Gibney, D Fitzpatrick; S Gallagher (capt), S Molumby (0-1), M Moore; R. O’Donoghue, L Coyne (0-1); C O’Connor, J McDermott, N Plant (0-1); E Meaney 0-4 (three frees), W Ahern, R Coss (1-0). Subs: J Corcoran (0-1) for O’Connor, A Boyle for R Gallagher, E Vahey for R O’Donoghue.

KERRY: S Ó Ciardubháin; G O’Connor, F Griffin, A Cahill; E Hickson (0-2), A Greaney, B Guiney; M Coakley, D Murphy (0-1); M Murphy (0-3), M O’Donoghue (0-1, capt), A O’Sullivan (0-1), Sayers (0-1), A MacGearailt (0-6, four frees), J Buckley (1-2). Subs: B Poff for G Sayers, A Fitzgerald for Buckley, T McGoldrick for Coakley, B McGuire for O’Connor, B Gleeson for Cahill.

Referee: Gary McCormack (Dublin)