Kerry picked up their first win in a hard fought Sam Maguire Round 2 tie against neighbours Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh this afternoon.

Despite the best efforts of the rebels and Brian Hurley in particular, a David Clifford second half penalty proved pivotal to victory, although slightly controversial as Cork fans thought the offense was committed outside the box.

Hurley did kick six points on the day but David Clifford and Sean O’Shea picked up 1-10 between them as the stars dragged Kerry over the line.

These sides await to see what happens between Mayo and Louth tomorrow, with Cork facing Mayo and Kerry who are strong favourites heading into a Louth tie next weekend to decide the group.

From the off Kerry looked the stronger side and managed to put an arm's length between them and their hosts.

Sean O’Shea who had a poor game against Mayo by his standards was up for it on this occasion picking up three of the first four scores for the Kingdom.

Cork managed to keep the board ticking Chris Og Jones, O’Driscoll and Hurley but four of the five Rebel scores in the opening half were answered by a Kerry score within three minutes, which kept the Kingdom comfortable up to the break at which they went in with a four point lead.

Cork came out with the perfect response to a poor first half picking up the first two scores to cut the deficit in half within four minutes. Despite the Kenmare man Sean O’Shea knocking over his fifth of the game, the Cork charge continued with Powter and Hurley bringing it back to a one point game within six minutes of the resumption.

The major moment in the match came about twelve minutes into the half when Sean Powter dragged down Paul Geaney right at the edge of the square and upon consulting his umpires referee David Gough pointed to the spot awarding a penalty and showed Powter a black card. David Clifford stepped up and made no mistake to restore the Kerry lead to a four point margin.

Kerry took advantage of the numbers to stretch out to a five point lead with two scores off the boot of David Clifford, a quiet four points to this point for the Fossa All-Star.

The Rebels never lied down, it would’ve been easy to write this off and move on to Mayo but Cork picked up the next three scores to bring the nerves to the Pairc and the score down to just two between the teams with four to go.

Clifford did restore a three point margin but Stephen Sherlock the Cork sub had a chance for goal but blazed the ball just over the bar for the point, a massive chance to level the game in the dying embers.

Tom O’Sullivan and Eoghan McSweeney exchanged scores in additional time but Kerry survived a massive scare from their neighbours and kickstarted their Championship campaign.