Jimmy Hyland was the star of the show as Kildare withstood a late Kerry rally to book their place in the inaugural All-Ireland U20 FC final.

Davy Burke's side scraped over the Kingdom by 1-14 to 1-13 at the Gaelic Grounds today and number 13 Hyland contributed 1-8 to his side's winning tally.

Their reward is a final date with Mayo who defeated Derry by 2-14 to 2-11 in today's other semi-final.

The Leinster champions enjoyed the better of the early exchanges and led by 0-7 to 0-4 at the end of the opening quarter.

A glorious goal opportunity presented itself to Kerry centre-forward Eddie Horan in the 19^th minute but Kildare netminder Aaron O'Neill was equal to the task.

The Kingdom upped the ante in the second quarter and outscored their opponents by four points to two to go in at the break trailing by the narrowest of margins - 0-8 to 0-9.

Fiachra Clifford converted five frees for Kerry in the opening period while, at the opposite end of the field, right corner-forward Hyland was a constant thorn in the side of the Kerry defence and also raised five white flags during the opening 30 minutes.

Paddy Woodgate opened the second half scoring in the third minute while Kerry's Clifford was off target with a couple of straight forward frees before Donal O'Sullivan opened the team in green and gold's second-half account from a close range free in the 40^th minute.

Kildare opened up a four-point gap (0-12 to 0-9) by the three-quarter hour mark thanks to points from Hyland (2) and Brian McLoughlin.

Kerry goalkeeper Brian Lonergan, meanwhile, won't care to be reminded about Hyland's 47^th minute goal as it stemmed from his misplaced short kick-out and left Jack O'Connor's side with a mountain to climb.

As you would expect from a Kerry team, they refused to throw in the towel and substitute Michael Potts threw them a lifeline with a well taken goal three minutes from the end of normal time.

Brian Friel and Cormac Linnane followed that up with points before Sean O'Leary cut Kildare lead to the bare minimum in the 5^th minute of stoppage time.

Kildare weathered the storm, however, and they now switch their focus to a trip to Croke Park for the final on August 5^th.

Kildare - A O'Neill; M Dempsey, M Barrett, DJ Earley; S Comerford, J Gibbons, R O'Giollain; A Masterson (0-1), D Marnell; D Ryan, P Nash, T Archbold; J Hyland (1-8, 0-5f), B McLoughlin (0-3, 2f), P Woodgate (0-2). Subs: S O'Sullivan for D Marnell, M Glynn for S O'Sullivan, J Bambrick for D Ryan, C Costigan for P Nash, N Murphy for J Hyland, S Doran for P Woodgate.

Kerry - B Lonergan; D Naughton, S Okunbor, M Reidy; M Breen, G O'Sullivan (0-1), D O'Brien; M Ryan (0-1), D O'Connor; F Clifford (0-5f), E Horan, D Moynihan; D O'Sullivan (0-2f), B Sweeney (0-1), D Shaw. Subs: S O'Leary (0-1) for M Breen, M Foley for S O'Leary, J Gammell for M Ryan, M Potts (1-0) for F Clifford, B Friel (0-1) for E Horan, C Linnane (0-1) for D Shaw.

Referee - J Molloy.

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