Impossible not to feel a little sorry for Clare at Killarney yesterday. They came with a weakened team and made all the right shapes in the opening passages yet Kerry exposed them so cruelly and ruthlessly that they were deprived even of the comfort blanket of brave losers everywhere. Coulda been contenders? Not yesterday.

The auguries weren't bad. The rain which had been a light mist for much of the afternoon suddenly imposed itself on proceedings not long before the throw-in, sheeting down in such volume that the reeks almost disappeared from view.

The downpour brought forth a fine blossom of golf umbrellas on the terrace and swelled the numbers willing to pay for shelter and seats on the other side of the ground. Down at centre stage with the pitch made greasy and speed no longer such an asset Clare may have begun to fancy their chances for the first time in weeks.

With the high profile defection of Liam Flaherty and the transatlantic dithering of Eamonn Breen, Kerry had somehow managed to create the impression that they had more problems than Clare had.

Not so. Clare turned in a hard winter of work in Crusheen and finished the league well, shaping up like a tough stringy side but not one that could afford to field against Kerry without players like Joe Considine, Senan Hehir, Alan Malone and Ger Keane.

Kerry started well with a confident point from Maurice Fitzgerald. The skiddy surface and a sense of nerviness prevented them from looking entirely convincing, however, even when John Crowley supplied a wonderful finish to Noel Kennelly's perceptive eighth-minute pass, as Clare had two chances to pull a goal back within the next 60 seconds.

Those early exchanges served notice to Kerry that their rivals weren't exactly shivering in anticipation. Crowley's goal brought a feisty response and it took something of even more surpassing brilliance 12 minutes later to impress upon Clare that they were in Kingdom country.

Dara O Cinneide, tracking a long high ball, picked up the break from a bungling thicket of defenders and from fully 21 yards out drove home a goal which at once kick-started the crowd and brought out the sun. Wonderful. The lively John McGlynn underlined the point with a fine score seconds later. Clare were beginning to understand.

Feistiness is one thing. Good forwards are another and yesterday Kerry were in the mood for dancing. No matter how much good work Clare submitted through the field and no matter how many fine saves they forced Declan O'Keeffe into, they were continually caught flatfooted at the back. There was more depressing evidence of this in the 27th minute when MacGearailt, McGlynn and finally Crowley nipped through the Clare defence. Crowley thumped home his second goal. Intoxicating stuff.

Clare went into the break eight points behind. It could be argued that they didn't deserve such bleakness with their tea but that would be to argue against genius. Each of Kerry's three goals had been works of art. Tommy Tubridy, the Clare selector patrolling the sidelines, must have had bitter memories of the Miltown massacre some 20 years ago when Kerry stuck nine past a defence of which he was a component.

Good news for Kerry was the apparent appetite of Maurice Fitzgerald as he foraged on both wings for the ball. That and the democracy of the forward play. Kennelly, MacGearailt, Crowley and co weren't inclined to polish the ball on their jerseys before presenting it to Maurice Fitz for his next trick. The conjurors were everywhere.

If there were worries (and in Kerry there always are) they centre on midfield and to a lesser extent the defence. Dara O Se had a good game but his partner Donal Daly was out of sorts for much of the while as Denis Russell looked to be the best midfielder on view. At the back Kerry didn't concede too much but the manner in which the Clare forwards were able to work the ball will have been noted in Cork.

Early in the second half Martin Daly and Denis Russell cut through the Kerry defence only for Russell to shoot a low wide rather than take his goal. Play switched upfield for MacGearailt to score a thrilling point.

Clare were obsessive about plundering goals after the break. Daly moved to full forward as they threaded the ball into the square again and again setting up short rounds of pinball which were generally as unpretty as they were ineffective.

Kerry continued to work with the economy and precision of surgeons up front. MacGearailt staked strong claims for permanent possession of the number 14 jersey. Long before the final whistle at Fitzgerald Stadium talk had turned to the Munster final in a month's time. If as many of Kerry's forwards could play as well as that again we might have a chance, said local voices.

In Kerry that amounts to sheer loudmouth arrogance.