Kildare beat New York in wintery conditions

The Kildare footballers kickstarted their preparations for the 2010 season overnight with an unconvincing challenge match win against New York.

With a sheet of snow covering the Gaelic Park pitch, Kieran McGeeney's men showed some counter attacking flair to cruise to a 2-4 to 0-4 half-time lead.

With the snow creating treacherous conditions and the halves shortened to 25 and 20 minutes respectively, both teams found it difficult to play at pace.

Kildare, however, made more of their chances with first Willie Heffernan and then Emmett Bolton slotting the ball past New York goalkeeper Alan Hearty.

Kildare gathered some momentum with Rob Kelly calmly pointing under pressure twice in quick succession. McGeeney was the happier of the two managers as his side began to play some flowing football.

His young charges maintained their composure in the second half and added another three points from play to edge to a 2-7 to 0-8 win.

A final tally of eight wides will disappoint McGeeney and his management team but given the underfoot conditions, they have to be pleased to leave the Big Apple without any injuries.

New York kept in touch in the early stages with two pointed frees from John Murtagh. The Armagh man, who scored all of New York's points in their recent defeat to Galway, was again impressive as he kicked a total of four points.