WHEN MIKE HASSETT lifted the Church & General National Football League trophy at Pairc Ui Chaoimh yesterday, he became the first Kerryman in 13 years to lift the title and the first in 11 years to lift any sort of national senior title.

The county's last league title was followed up with three successive All Ireland titles. It might be extravagant to suggest the current team can follow that particular precedent, but after an exciting match in wet conditions before 28,795, there was plenty of reason for joint managers Paidi O Se and Seamus MacGearailt to feel satisfied and hopeful for the months that lie ahead.

They had watched their charges comfortably outplay their great provincial rivals to the extent that Cork managed only two points in the second half, neither of them from play.

It might be argued that Kerry's three goals, which decisively set the trend of the match, were fortuitous in that their opponents defence should have done better, but in all three there was great skill in the buildup complemented by a good finish. Anyway, Cork's goal was hardly achieved in the absence of defensive shortcomings among the Kerry backs.

What will particularly gratify Kerry is that the team exhibited strength in the vital central areas and drew influential contributions from the lesser known players on the team, a crucial factor because the displays of some of the team's established stars were a bit subdued.

Kerry consistently enjoyed the upper hand in all sectors with only sporadic interference from Cork. Their opponents were probably authors of their own misfortune in that in addition to the concession of three preventable goals at the back, they kicked 13 wides, to Kerry's three.

Cork's tactics were baffling. After the now customary shuffling of his selected line out, manager Larry Tompkins watched his team fatally undermine the tactic they deployed in recent matches of reducing their attack to two men on the inside, by persisting with a short game that ensured that Kerry's defenders had plenty of time to funnel back before the ball hit either Steven O'Brien or Aidan Dorgan.

Tompkins also made some strange alterations. After bringing in Joe Kavanagh for Colin Corkery early in the second half Corkery gave another subdued performance which raised questions about the wisdom of prevailing on the player to cut short his honeymoon to return for the match - Tompkins switched Brian Corcoran from the 40 where he had been having an effective afternoon on Liam Flaherty.

The move was presumably intended to bring Kavanagh into the game but placing Corcoran at corner forward had the effect of neutralising his impact while Kavanagh's contribution never took off, which allowed Flaherty a rousing conclusion to the match.

The weather had deteriorated in, the early afternoon and by the time of throw in the ground was subject to heavy intermittent showers. Kerry adapted much better than Cork who suffered in the slippery conditions, rarely bringing the ball under immediate control and frequently distributing it haphazardly.

Cork probably enjoyed at least parity of possession in the first half which started well enough for them with Ciaran O'Sullivan, predictably switched to centre field before the start, running through for a point ink the third minute.

After Liam Hassett had equalised in the fifth minute, the score coming, about as a result of a generously gifted hop-ball decision by referee Pat Casserley, Kerry struck for their first goal three minutes later. This was the score most significantly laced with luck, as Sean Og O hAilpin had done well to dispossess, Denis O'Dwyer, who was running in on goal but having flicked the ball from the Kerryman's hands, the Cork defender had to watch as it fells perfectly for his opponent to drive into the net.

Despite this setback, Cork responded well and had closed the gap by the 18th minute with points from Martin Cronin, Corcoran and Aidan Dorgan. Just as they looked to have regained equilibrium if not quite to have seized the initiative, Cork conceded another goal in the 22nd minute. The move started with midfielder William Kirby who found Pa Laide in the sort of space the Austin Stacks man had relatively little difficulty finding all afternoon and his inviting ball in on goal was fisted into the net by the onrushing Maurice Fitzgerald.

By this stage a couple of things were becoming clear. By the standards of these counties meetings, it was a very physical match with Cork in particular appearing to regard it as de rigeur to cannon off their nearest opponent before releasing the ball. So another factor to light up Kerry's afternoon is that their smaller and less experienced team withstood these tests without undue difficulty.

Secondly, it was apparent that the Kerry half forward line was in considerably livelier humour than their more celebrated colleagues on the inside, where Brian Clarke at fully forward was unusually the most prominent performer in the light of subdued contributions from both, Fitzgerald and Dara O Cinneide.

Kerry were also coming to grips with their defensive and centrefield duties more successfully than had been the general anticipation. In the absence of the type of high, early ball that might have troubled him Barry O'Shea coped reasonably well with O'Brien. On either side of him Killian Burns was just about coping with Aidan Dorgan's strong bursts in the left corner and Mike Hassett was faring even better on Corkery.

Cork's goal came in the 28th minute. Corkery hoisted a high ball in on the Kerry square, a move that appeared to have ignored the more obvious option of picking out Dorgan who had left his marker. The reservation proved groundless as O'Brien comprehensively won the dropping ball to knock it down to Dorgan, still waiting in splendid isolation, and he levelled the match at 2-2 to 1-5.

With only a minute to go to the interval, a Corkery free pushed Cork ahead, but the lead was to last less than a minute as Kerry rounded off the first half with another goal. Fitzgerald's quick free was intelligently taken but still left Liam Hassett with a fair bit to do. The centre forward was, however, equal to the task, taking the ball Well and fending off the attentions of Niall Cahalane and kicking to the net for a half time lead of 3-2 to 1-6.

Cork will have found little enough, consolation from yesterday's defeat" but Mark O'Connor, switched on to Fitzgerald from the start, did a good job of making his marker look at least human - a reasonable achievement in the light of recent matches.