Down boss Ross Carr watched his son come off the bench to hit the levelling point - a 40-metre free - after Kildare had led 1-09 to 0-08 at half-time.

Five points (four frees) from John Doyle, allied to a Murt Donnelly goal, had the Lilywhites firmly in charge.

However, a four-point burst with Daniel Hughes (0-02), James McGovern and Carr raising white flags got Down back in touch, in a game which saw the sides level on seven occasions.

This was a high quality tie - neither side hit a wide until the 26th-minute and it was the hosts who hit the ground running, going into a 0-04 to 0-02 lead with McGovern (0-02), Hughes, whose shot forced David Lyons to tip over his own crossbar, and Ronan Sexton finding the target.

But Kildare fought back to level at 0-04 apiece - with Padraig O'Neill and Doyle (free) raising white flags - and then points from Hughes and Doyle squared up the game for a second time.

McGovern cracked over his third point right on the half-time whistle, but by that time corner forward Donnelly had netted, Anthony Rainbow had hit a towering point and Doyle raced his personal tally to five as Kildare took a four-point buffer into the second half.

Down's other first half points came from Ronan Murtagh and Benny Coulter, who had recovered from the 'flu to start.

Down hit the second half's first four points to get back on terms, and with their defence leaking only two points on the resumption, Queen's student Carr rasped over the game's final three points to earn his side a share of the spoils.