THE National League trophy is probably already under somebody's stairs in Kerry and won't see daylight again until the GAA summon it for polishing prior to the launch of next year's campaign.

Kerry won it for the 19th time yesterday in a game which most of the 20,545 crowd had forgotten by the time they reached home. The scoring trends suggest a tight game, which was indeed the case, but the intensity levels were disappointingly low. So much so that, although only one score separated the sides at the finish, one suspects there would have been no great enthusiasm for extra-time if Derry grabbed a late equaliser.

The strange thing was that despite the closeness of the contest right up to the 70th minute, when Colm Cooper's sixth point opened up a four-point gap for the first time, there was never any great sense of excitement or anticipation that the occasion was going to explode into something special.

remote

But then Croke Park exudes a strangely remote atmosphere when it's less than one-third full. And since Monaghan had the biggest following of the four counties in the Division 1 and 2 finals, they made no input into the Derry-Kerry game -- indeed, many had left long before the finish.

There really is a great inequality in GAA life. So many counties would be ecstatic at winning anything in Croke Park -- remember Wicklow after lifting the Tommy Murphy Cup in 2007 -- but yesterday's success meant very little to Kerry other than providing proof that they ran a better spring campaign than all of their rivals.

"Any day you take a cup out of Croke Park is a good day," remarked Jack O'Connor afterwards and the fact that it was achieved by beating an Ulster team who had successfully ambushed Kerry in last year's final added to his personal satisfaction.

Yet even the demeanour of the Kerry squad as they watched Darran O'Sullivan receive the trophy suggested that the win was akin to a fast food feast -- tasty at the time but providing very little nourishment.

Derry weren't exactly distraught at the defeat and the assertion by manager, Damien Cassidy, that they got what they wanted out of the league suggests that the journey was more important than the destination this year.

Whether it leaves Derry as advanced as they would like for the Ulster championship remains to be seen, but then Monaghan, whom they play in the quarter-final, were also beaten yesterday, so it's reflection all round as both camps return to the privacy of the training ground over the coming weeks.

Derry led by two points early on, but once Michael Quirke played Donncha Walsh in for Kerry's goal in the ninth minute, a pattern emerged which remained in place all the way to the finish.

Kerry led by one, two and three-point- margins at various stages, but were never able to pull away. Derry hung on in, hoping that they would hit a really productive stretch at some stage, similar to what happened in the 2008 final when they beat Kerry by four points after raising the stakes in the second half.

However, Kerry were defensively more secure this time and never allowed the Derry attack to get a clean strike at goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy.

Derry lost full-forward Paddy Bradley to a heavy knock in the 23rd minute and while he returned in the 39th minute, he wasn't as effective as might normally be the case.

Corner-forwards Eoin Bradley and Mark Lynch had some good spells, while wing-forward Enda Lynn won lots of possession, but struggled with his kicking which resulted in at least three good chances being wasted.

Tommy Walsh and Colm Cooper were the best of the Kerry attack on a day when Kieran Donaghy just couldn't get into the game before being eventually replaced. He made no impact early on against Kevin McCloy, who was really on his game until he came into contact with Tommy Walsh.

He found Walsh much more difficult to handle, but any defender in the country would have struggled against a youngster who really is developing into a high quality performer. His ball-winning skills, his strength and general sense of awareness raised regular security alerts in a Derry defence that never quite worked out how to curb him.

Kerry led by 1-7 to 0-9 at half-time and by 1-10 to 0-11 at the three-quarter stage and while Derry pared the margin back to a point with 10 minutes left, they were out-scored 0-4 to 0-2 on the home run.

typical

It was typical Kerry as they closed out a game where half-backs, Tomas O Se (with two) and Aidan O'Mahony contributed three points on forward runs, while the introduction of Darragh O Se in the 42nd minute and Tadhg Kennelly four minutes later, added to the overall sense of wellbeing in the camp.

A job well done then for Kerry who remained unbeaten right throughout a league campaign which started so spectacularly with the Dublin-Tyrone lights extravaganza in late January and ended quite tamely with the top prize heading to the southwest, just as it did in 2004 and 2006 -- seasons in which they also won the All-Ireland title.

They certainly look well-placed for another big championship push as they now possess the strongest back-up forces in the country. O'Connor really has a wide range of options when the occasion demands and, on the evidence of the league campaign, they will be used very frequently.

Scorers -- Kerry: C Cooper 0-6 (0-3f), D Walsh 1-0, B Sheehan 0-3 (0-3f), T O Se, T Walsh 0-2 each, A O'Mahony, Declan O'Sullivan 0-1 each. Derry: M Lynch (0-3f), E Bradley (0-1f) 0-4 each, P Bradley 0-2 (0-1f), C McKaigue, E Lynn, P Murphy, J Kiely (f), S Bradley 0-1 each.

Kerry -- D Murphy; P Reidy, T O'Sullivan, K Young; T O Se, A O'Mahony, T Griffin; A Maher, M Quirke; Darran O'Sullivan, Declan O'Sullivan, D Walsh; C Cooper, K Donaghy, T Walsh.

Subs: D O Se for Quirke (42), T Kennelly for D Walsh (46), D Moran for Maher (49), B Sheehan for Donaghy (58), D Bohan for Griffin (62), S O'Sullivan for Darran O'Sullivan (65).

Derry -- B Gillis; K McGuckin, K McCloy, G O'Kane; C McKaigue, B McGuigan, SL McGoldrick; F Doherty, J Diver; E Lynn, P Murphy, B Mullan; E Bradley, P Bradley, M Lynch. Subs: J Kielt for P Bradley (23), P Bradley for Mullan (39), D McBride for O'Kane (44), S Bradley for Murphy (48), R Dillon for McCarron (y/c 68).

Ref -- M Duffy (Sligo).

- martin breheny