DAVID Clifford netted twice inside seven minutes and only the crossbar denied him a hat-trick as ultra-clinical Kerry cruised past Clare.
The Kingdom eased to a fifth Munster title in a row by blitzing their visitors for 4-7 in the opening 26 minutes.
Jack O’Connor’s side have raised 24 green flags in 10 games this year. And Clifford led the way with his 2-5 in front of a 13,181 crowd at Fitzgerald Stadium.
The Fossa forward pointed to the heavens after scoring his first goal in tribute to his mother, Ellen, who passed away two years ago on Tuesday.
Jack O’Connor made six changes due to an injury list that included Shane Ryan, Paul Murphy, Graham O’Sullivan, and Diarmuid O’Connor, on top of Paudie Clifford’s suspension.
On the plus side, they welcomed back Seán O’Shea, Tom O’Sullivan, and Mike Breen. The Dr Crokes trio of Shane Murphy, Tony Brosnan, and Micheál Burns were also drafted in to start.
They got off to a flyer with an O’Shea two-pointer followed by David Clifford’s opening goal in the fourth minute.
It was a quality finish, too, as he collected Brosnan’s gorgeous floated pass, rounded Cillian Brennan, and rolled a delayed finish to the corner.
Their silky kick passing sliced Clare open again within three minutes. Paul Geaney gathered Tom O’Sullivan’s long delivery before the ball was worked to Burns, who was denied by Eamon Tubridy’s save.
Clifford was alert to the rebound to volley home for 2-2 to 0-1.
Wasteful Clare had nine first-half misses, including a speculative Eoin Cleary shot saved by Shane Murphy. They briefly stemmed the bleeding with Aaron Griffin and Keelan Sexton points.
But when Emmet McMahon was black-carded for an apparent trip on Paul Geaney, the deficit doubled from seven points to 14 over the subsequent 10 minutes.
Dylan Geaney’s sharp turn and visionary handpass fed Burns to bury their third goal in the 23rd minute.
Within seconds, Clifford cracked the crossbar with his hat-trick attempt and Gavin White’s follow-up was blocked by Brennan.
Clare had only themselves to blame for the fourth goal as Paul Geaney picked off Cillian Rouine’s handpass.
The full-forward exchanged a one-two with Clifford before unselfishly squaring for Barry Dan O’Sullivan to dive in for the final touch.
Noel Mooney served up a penalty for Clare, when punishing White for a foul on Sexton.
The Na Fianna forward dusted himself down but blazed wildly over the crossbar.
The half-time gap stood at 15 points, 4-10 to 0-7.
Kerry’s lack of two-pointers has received plenty of analysis but O’Shea kicked a pair in the first half and Clifford added another in the second.
O’Connor joked with the media who had been questioning him over those orange flags: “That’ll keep ye happy!”
He was most impressed by their midfield dominance to retain 20 of their 26 kick-outs, while stealing half of Clare’s restarts.
Barry Dan O’Sullivan put in a sterling performance, scoring 1-1 and playing a role in both of Clifford’s goals.
O’Connor hailed the big midfielder, saying: “The new game suits him. When it was the old game, the midfielders were more link players and box-to-box, whereas now the kick-outs are crucial.
“He’s a very, very strong man under the ball so the new game is suiting him.
“There was a great move there where Barry Dan palmed it in at the back post.
“There were a couple of lads who could have lashed it in themselves, but they worked a great team goal. So delighted with that.”
Early in the second half, McMahon punished back-to-back infringements of the new rules with two-point frees.
Clare also created a couple of goal chances but Murphy saved from Sexton and Manus Doherty fired over.
As the game drifted to its conclusion, Kerry handed championship debuts to Mark O’Shea, Keith Evans, and Evan Looney off the bench.
They almost added a fifth goal after the final hooter but Doherty blocked on the line from Tadhg Morley.
Defeated manager Peter Keane said: “Turnovers hurt us. We had about seven turnovers in the first half, but we conceded 3-1 from those turnovers.
“I’m proud of the way the lads came out and, particularly in that second half, they didn’t lie down. They fought very well to bring it back to what we got.
“We were something like 40% in our scoring efficiency in the first half, and Kerry were at something like 80%.”
Clare head for Group 3, starting at home to Down, then away to Monaghan, and finally facing the Leinster champions at a neutral venue.
As for facing his Kerry predecessor Keane in the Clare dug out, O’Connor replied: “I wouldn’t be going down that road. This was Kerry playing Clare, not me playing him. That’s as much as I’d say about it.”
White ended the day by collecting the Munster Cup for Kerry’s 86th title. It’s their seventh time stringing together five or more provincial crowns in succession.
Kerry 4-20 – Clare 0-21
KERRY: S Murphy; T O’Sullivan, D Casey, J Foley; B Ó Beaglaoich, M Breen, G White; J O’Connor, BD O’Sullivan 1-1; T Brosnan, S O’Shea 0-8, 1tp, 1tpf, 3f, M Burns 1-0; D Clifford 2-5, 1tp, 0-1f, P Geaney 0-4, 1f, D Geaney 0-2. Subs: T Morley for Foley 27-32 mins (temp); R Murphy for Brosnan 52; K Spillane for O’Shea 52; Morley for Breen 54; M O’Shea for BD O’Sullivan 56; K Evans for Burns 59; E Looney for Ó Beaglaoich 64-f-t (temp).
CLARE: E Tubridy; M Doherty 0-1, R Lanigan, C Brennan; A Sweeney, C Rouine, I Ugwueru; B McNamara 0-2, E McMahon 0-8, 2tpf, 2f; D Coughlan, A Griffin 0-1, D Walsh 0-1; K Sexton 0-2, 1p, E Cleary, M McInerney 0-6, 2f, 1 45. Subs: C Meaney for Sweeney 54 mins; Shane Griffin for Walsh 54; E Cahill for Sexton 59; R McMahon for Rouine 63; D Burns for Cleary 68.
Referee: N Mooney (Cavan).