Although Bryan Sheehan got Kerry off to a great start after just 30 seconds, it was Tipperary who started brighter.

Michael Quinlivan replied with a free for the home side after Anthony Maher brought down Peter Acheson in the second minute, and a series of terrific blocks showed that Tipp were up for the fight.

Ciarán McDonald, Andrew Morrissey and Paddy Codd all blocked down efforts from Colm Cooper, Paul Curtin and Declan O'Sullivan as the sides remained at 0-1 apiece.

Two points in quick succession then put Tipperary in front. An Alan Maloney free and an Acheson effort gave the Kingdom something to think about after eight minutes.

Kerry were wasteful with their opportunities with their captain Cooper and Sheehan (free) both kicking wides before defender Tomás Ó Sé brought last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists to within a point with a great effort off the outside of his boot.

Tipperary were breaking forward in droves in the first half but once they passed the Kerry 45-metre line, they were out-muscled. Cooper levelled the scores shortly afterwards and Sheehan put Jack O'Connor's men 0-4 to 0-3 in front following wides from Maloney and Kieran O'Leary.

Tipperary fought hard to remain in the game with Philip Austin levelling after 20 minutes before Darran O'Sullivan rampaged through the Tipperary defence to blast over a point with Cooper hoping to be put through on goal.

In what was typical of Tipperary's first-half performance, after stopping Kerry in attack, they gave the ball away cheaply with O'Leary profiting from knocking the ball from the hands of Robbie Costigan before finishing off a crisp counter attack.

Maher and Cooper added further scores to put four points between the sides as Tipperary failed to make their chances count with Coghlan kicking a poor wide from 25 metres out.

Cooper made no such mistake when he pointed from a free when Darran O'Sullivan was fouled on the edge of the large rectangle, stretching the lead out to five.

But for the wastefulness of the Tipp attack, the sides might have been level at the break. Instead, the home side were 0-9 to 0-6 behind.

Quinlivan epitomised their up-and-down performance when the full-forward converted one of his next three attempts. Maloney gave Tipperary a boost before the break with a fantastically taken free after Eoin Brosnan was yellow carded for persistent fouling.

The second half started as the first, with Tipperary outscoring their Kerry counterparts by three points to one inside eight minutes of the restart.

Maloney twice and Coghlan pointed for Tipperary with a solitary point from Sheehan (free) the only chance Kerry created in the opening minutes. Another Sheehan free put two points between the teams - 0-11 to 0-9 before Quinlivan hit the post with a free from 20 metres out.

Kerry boss O'Connor had the luxury of emptying his strong bench over the next five minutes with Kieran Donaghy, James O'Donoghue, Brian Maguire and Barry John Keane all entering the fray.

The pre-match favourites duly edged their way into a four-point lead with Sheehan and Cooper adding a free each to their tally.

As Tipperary tired, Declan O'Sullivan added a point as Kerry upped the tempo, but a great Acheson point clawed Tipp back to within four with 13 minutes remaining as Donaghy saw yellow for off-the-ball incident.

Moments later Quinlivan spurned a goal chance as he drove his shot high and wide. Substitute O'Donoghue pointed for Kerry as the Tipperary team started to feel the pace of the game with ten minutes remaining.

Tipp continued to be wasteful in front of goal as Austin, Acheson, Coghlan and George Hannigan were all guilty of not taking their scores in warm conditions.

Sheehan had no such difficulty as he landed his sixth point of the day as time wound down. Next up for Kerry is a difficult trip to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, while Tipperary will need to improve on their shooting if they are to avoid immediate elimination in the All-Ireland qualifiers.

Scorers – Tipperary: A Maloney 0-4 (0-3f), M Quinlvan (0-1f, 0-1 ‘45’), P Acheson 0-2 each, H Coghlan, P Austin 0-1 each

Kerry: B Sheehan 0-6 (0-5f), C Cooper 0-4 (0-2f), T Ó Sé, A Maher, Darran O’Sullivan, K O’Leary, Declan O’Sullivan, James O’Donoghue 0-1 each

TIPPERARY: Paul Fitzgerald; Andrew Morrissey, Paddy Codd, Ciarán McDonald; Brian Fox, Robbie Costigan, Alan Campbell; George Hannigan, Hugh Coghlan, Lorcan Egan, Peter Acheson, Shane Scully; Alan Maloney, Michael Quinlivan, Philip Austin.

Subs used: Donagh Leahy for Costigan (25 mins), Richie Ryan for Scully (45), Donal Lynch for Egan (59), Bernard O'Brien for Quinlivan (64), Aldo Matassa for Hannigan (70),

KERRY: Brendan Kealy; Shane Enright, Daniel Bohan, Killian Young; Tomás Ó Sé, Eoin Brosnan, Peter Crowley; Anthony Maher, Bryan Sheehan; Paul Galvin, Darran O'Sullivan, Kieran O'Leary; Colm Cooper, Declan O'Sullivan, Patrick Curtin.

Subs used: Kieran Donaghy for Galvin (45 mins), Brian Maguire for Young (47), James O'Donoghue for O'Leary, Barry John Keane for Curtin (both 50), Aidan O'Mahony for Brosnan (60).

Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo)