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It felt a bit like a Munster final in Killarney on Sunday as Kerry turned on the style in a sun-drenched Fitzgerald Stadium. The weather was unreal. Fellas were baking up in the terrace. One of my friends resorted to lining up alongside some random children who were waiting for their father to squirt them with sunscreen. He got burned anyway but (wait for it - this is a good one) not as badly burned as Clare’s six defenders.

The visitors got the first couple of scores but Kerry were rampant thereafter, moving the ball so quickly and so efficiently that the Claremen were effectively chasing shadows for the duration. 32 points is savage kicking irrespective of who the opposition are.

Stephen O’Brien must literally be told to just run his man every single time he gets the ball and Clare couldn’t cope with him the last day. There are probably more natural players in the camp but you have to give him his due. He has been consistently effective throughout his Kerry career.

I have to admit that I was a small bit surprised at how quickly Micheál Burns moved up the pecking order and became a starter but he looks very comfortable inside there. He’s a serious athlete to be fair to him. Someone was telling me that he covered 14km in an A versus B match recently. To put that into context, 8-9km is considered normal. It’s very early in the summer to be getting carried away but he has done well so far.

The star trio of Geaney, James and Clifford weren’t quite as electrifying as we all hoped but they still scored 13 points between them. It was great to see James bouncing around the place for Kerry again and he’ll only improve as the year goes on. Clifford did okay and again, he’ll only get better as he continues to adapt to the senior game.

Shane Murphy wasn’t tested too often but his kick-outs were mostly excellent, and he’ll be pleased to have kept a clean sheet in his first championship outing as Kerry captain.

It seemed like most of the supporters went home happy, although one or two (myself included) were a bit underwhelmed by the substitutions made. Mikey Geaney, BJ Keane, Darran O’Sullivan and Kieran Donaghy all got a run, but Kilcummin’s Kevin McCarthy didn’t. The game was won by half time. What’s the point of bringing on Donaghy or Darran, players who have played a million championship games, and leaving a young, exciting prospect on the bench? It was strange enough I thought.

As good as Kerry were, you’d have to say that Clare, who finished third in Division 2 this year, were disappointing. Some of their basic skills were very poor and in general they looked to be miles off the standard required to challenge at this level.

I noticed in the programme that their only ever championship victory over Kerry (1992) was excluded from a list of past meetings between the sides. It’s bad enough that Kerry have won 79 Munster titles to Clare’s two. If we start taking wins off them retrospectively, they’re rightly screwed.