Kerry advanced to the semi-finals of the All-Ireland senior football championship after a 0-15 to 0-10 victory over Derry.
Derry were well in the game in the opening stages with Shane McGuigan scoring three from play in the first half but Kerry gradually ground them down with a patient display.
Their bench made a big impact with Killian Spillane and Dylan Geaney both scoring points while Cillian Burke also won some vital frees.
Half back Brian Ó Beaglaoich was named man-of-the-match after a game that even he admitted wasn't easy on the eye. Not that they'll mind too much, with a semi-final against Armagh coming up in a fortnight's time.
As for Derry, their game-plan looked to have been working in the first half as they curtailed most of Kerry's attacking threats. David Clifford for one was notably quiet after a bright start to the game but Derry hadn't enough scores on the board themselves and ultimately, their execution let them down in the second half.
Speaking on The Sunday Game after the clash, Dublin legend Paul Flynn effectively explained what has gone wrong for Derry since winning the National League and even since last year.
He says that in the last few months, the team have lost their 'slickness with the ball.'
"The Derry we seen there, they lacked the slickness with the ball. When you gave the ball to Derry throughout the League, or even in the latter stages of last year's championship, you didn't get it back until it went dead.
"Okay they were getting men back, they had a good structure defensively but that slickness with the ball in hand just wasn't there.
"That's a hard thing to find, you can't just switch that on if there's a lack of confidence, that's where you're going to find it and the turnovers, they weren't as much about Kerry's positioning or structure or even intensity.
"They were actually more about Derry's lack of slickness."
"From a Derry perspective, it's just the end of a bad run. Whatever went wrong there after the League, it all came to the fore in that second half," he said.
The panel try to work out why Derry's challenge faded away and Kerry's overall performance
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Many onlookers were disappointed with the entertainment value of the contest with RTÉ commentator Enda McGinley describing the game as 'really poor.'
"It was not pretty, it was really poor. We didn't get a grandstand finish. All-Irelands aren't about fancy performances or champagne football, sometimes you have to grind it out. Kerry did that today," he said.
Both Peter Canavan and Tomás Ó Sé agreed with McGinley's summation that the end justifies the means for Kerry.
"We were very critical of Kerry at half-time. But you have to praise them from how they dug it out," said Canavan.
"I think Jack will be delighted," added Ó Sé. "There's so much to work on. I think they will improve. It wasn't at all pretty, but that won't bother Kerry at all."
