It wasn’t always pretty, and there were times when it seemed like it would be Ryan McMenamin who would be leaving St Conleth's Park with a first league win for his new team, but Daniel Flynn’s 58th-minute goal proved crucial as Jack O’Connor began life in Kildare with a win.

No fireworks in Newbridge. Not this time.

Cian Lynch, Declan Hannon, Gearoid Hegarty, and Graeme Mulcahy have been restored to the Limerick team for tomorrow’s Munster hurling final.

Two first-half goals inside 60 seconds from Paul Walsh were the vital scores that sent Mayo into the Connacht MFC final against Galway as they saw off Sligo in Castlebar.

Cian O’Neill’s Kildare impressively navigated a potential Belfast banana skin on Saturday, coming away from Corrigan Park with a double-scores 14-point win over Antrim to secure a place in this morning’s draw for Round 3 of the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers.

Kildare’s footballers recovered from their Dublin hangover in fine style with an impressive 14-point win over Antrim at a sun-soaked Corrigan Park, Belfast in the second round of the All- Ireland SFC qualifiers.

Sligo’s superb comeback, inspired by Gavin Duffy’s brilliant goals, earned a Connacht MFC semi-final place at Markievicz Park.

Both sides kicked some wonderful points though remarkably, the second half of extra time yielded no score.

There was late drama as Wicklow footballers gave red-hot favourites Kildare a real fright at Netwatch Cullen Park this evening as the Leinster senior football championship got under way before an attendance of 3,800.

Donegal waltzed back to the top flight of the Allianz League with a comprehensive 13-point win over a listless Kildare at Fr Tierney Park in Ballyshannon yesterday.

Meath snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to take a major step in their quest for a return to top-tier football with this victory in driving snow at Páirc Tailteann yesterday.

There was a sensational ending to this fully-blooded Division 2 NFL encounter as a penalty goal from Barry Dardis in added time strengthened Meath’s promotion push at Pairc Tailteann.

Ryan Lyons scored the only two points of the final 20 minutes to guide Fermanagh to their first victory of this league campaign against a woefully below-par Kildare side at Brewster Park on Saturday.

Where in the opening round Cork succeeded in securing a point despite being a man down for the closing 27 minutes of action, yesterday, despite being a man up for the same period of time, they were unable to manage anything at all.

Kieran McGeeney had to settle for a draw on his first return to Kildare as an opposing manager after Jimmy Hyland earned the home team a share of the spoils with the last kick of the game.

In the end, it was all too comfortable for Kerry. But it mattered little, the result they needed from Pearse Stadium didn't materialise.

Derry 2-14 Kildare 2-22

Kerry 0-19 - Kildare 0-14: A first win in four games. A first victory on home soil since January 28 and a first clean-sheet since July of 2017. Significant daylight put between themselves and the relegation zone. All in all, not a bad evening’s work for Kerry.

Kerry 0-19 Kildare 0-14: A sixth consecutive league defeat means Kildare will spend next spring in Division 2.

Meanwhile, Tipperary hurling manager Michael Ryan has handed a first league start to corner-forward Cian Darcy.

Donegal 1-16 Kildare 3-7: Donegal’s poorest performance of Division 1 this term was still enough to post a first win, at Kildare’s expense.

Donegal came through something of a must-win to give themselves a fighting chance of Division 1 survival at Kildare’s expense at Ballyshannon.

The Dubs will be a different story altogether in the decider.

Kildare have coasted through a Leinster football semi-final on the back of the most facile of victories over an utterly insipid Laois side in Tullamore this afternoon.

Galway 0-18 Kildare 0-16: The increasing depth of this Galway panel means Kevin Walsh has an interesting nine weeks ahead of him in attempting to piece together his strongest team.

Galway 0-14 Kildare 0-13

Derry 1-18 Kildare 1-17: Kildare manager Cian O’Neill was left furious after a controversial Emmett McGuckin goal in injury time saw Derry end the Lilywhites’ perfect start to life back in Division Two.

Tyrone chairperson Roisin Jordan has insisted the county executive is fully behind Mickey Harte and his team, and fully supportive of their efforts to win a first All-Ireland title since 2008.

Sigerson Cup - St Mary’s 2-14 DCU-Dóchas Éireann 2-13 (AET): St Mary’s manager Paddy Tally praised his side after their dramatic upset in beating hosts and favourites DCU-Dóchas Éireann.

Wexford 2-6 DCU Dóchas Éireann 0-10: Two Ben Brosnan first-half goals proved decisive as Wexford held out for a deserved two-point victory over DCU at St. Patrick’s Park, Enniscorthy.

A powerful 10-minute burst at the end of the first-half – during which the home outfit hit 2-3 on the bounce – secured Mayo’s place in the fourth round qualifier draw on Monday morning.

Kildare just about held out at the end of a pedestrian game to set up a Leinster semi-final with Westmeath or Offaly.

Clare produced a rousing finish to beat Kildare in a high-scoring Allianz Football League Division 3 final at Croke Park.

Captain Bryan Sheehan starts at right half-forward as one of two changes to the Kerry side for Sunday’s Allianz FL Division 1 final against Dublin at Croke Park (throw-in 3.30pm).

Kildare 0-22 Clare 1-14: Despite losing out to Kildare in a high-octane shootout, Clare will still join their conquerors in Division 2 next year.

Sligo 2-15 Kildare 2-14: Sligo boss Niall Carew came back to haunt his home county as his side ended Kildare’s perfect run in this Division 3 campaign at St Conleth’s Park yesterday.