Antrim relied on free-taker Paddy Cunningham for most of their scores, and were only 0-06 to 0-04 behind at half-time.

But well-taken points from Padraig O’Neill, John Doyle, Eamonn Callaghan and Brian Flanagan widened the gap and the Lilywhites ran out comfortable winners.

Antrim defender Andy McClean and Kildare's Emmet Bolton both received red cards, while the hosts' goalkeeper Sean O'Neill produced some fine saves.

The Saffrons included eight players who started against Kildare in last year's All-Ireland SFC qualifiers, while Dermot Earley was amongst the absentees for Kildare.

The visitors' manager Kieran McGeeney tweaked the side he originally selected, with Doyle, Flanagan, Tommy O'Neill and Fionn Dowling all starting.

This clash took a while to catch fire and Kildare were guilty of some poor shooting. Doyle's first pointed free opened the scoring in the fifth minute, with Cunningham and Mark Dougan replying from placed balls for Antrim.

The Ulster side failed to score from play in the first half. Cunningham's second successful free made it 0-03 to 0-01, before the ball worked through for Callaghan to land the game's first point from play.

Cunningham took Antrim's total to four, but Kildare registered the last four points coming up to half-time as the game started to improve in quality. Flanagan kickstarted the run of scores, Hugh Lynch added a long range point, full-forward Dowling chipped in with a close-in effort and Doyle's 30-metre free put two points between the sides at the interval.

Eoghan O'Flaherty soloed forward to set up Padraig O'Neill for the opening point, on the resumption, and Antrim then scored from play through Dougan. The Saffrons were starved of possession in the full-forward line and Hugh McGrillen and his fellow defenders were well positioned to deal with any threats.

Kildare's attack clicked into gear again as Doyle, Callaghan and Flanagan pushed the lead out to 0-11 to 0-05, ten minutes after the restart. Alan Smith watched his shot bounce back off the crossbar as Kildare began to beat a path to the Antrim goal, and net minder Sean O'Neill did well to block a goal-bound effort from substitute Robert Kelly.

Cunningham broke up Kildare's flow of scores with another pointed free, before Doyle, who was beginning to hit form, replied with two of his own. Corner forward Kevin Niblock added his name to the scoresheet for Antrim, and a further free from Cunningham closed the gap to 0-14 to 0-08.

However, when McClean picked up his second yellow card for a foul on Kelly, Antrim's hopes took a nosedive. Cunningham did his best to convert further scores and he matched Doyle's 0-08 tally in the end. Kildare also saw out the game with 14 players, following Bolton's second bookable offence which saw him tangle with Niblock.

Substitute Ronan Sweeney and Dowling sandwiched scores either side of that incident, and substitute Cribbin had the final say for the Lilywhites, knocking home a late goal after the ball was broken down to him by Kelly.