Kirwan was superb for Glenn Ryan’s side against a dogged Leitrim side who put it up to them in the second half. .
Niall Kelly opened up the scoring in the fifth minute and minutes later Kirwan kicked over his first point. A good move from Leitrim in the ninth minute resulted in Tom Prior kicking over a neat score.
In the 13th minute, Kildare keeper Mark Donnellan pulled off a good save to deny Ryan O’Rourke. Kirwan and Mark Plunkett traded points before Kildare stretched their lead to four in the 19th minute through a Kevin Feely free.
Twice in the space of five minutes Leitrim cut the gap to two points; Prior with another fine point. In the 30th minute a fine move from Kildare ended with Ryan Burke playing the ball to Kelly and he found the back of the net.
Another free from the boot of Woodgate in stoppage time gave the Lilywhites a 1-8 to 0-5 lead at the interval.
The second half was a real battle with Leitrim upping their performance. Kildare’s experience and fitness told in the end. When Aidan Flynn got Leitrim to within three of Kildare the crowd erupted. A great point from Darragh Rooney cut the gap to two points in the 54th minute.
Kirwan then kicked over three points in a row. The Naas man’s seventh point in stoppage time edged Kildare ahead by eight points but Ryan O’Rourke had the final say with a point for Leitrim right at the end.
Scorers – Kildare: D Kirwan 0-7, N Kelly 1-1, P Woodgate 0-4 (4fs), P McDermott 0-2, J Sargent, K Feely (f) 0-1 each. Leitrim: M Plunket, D Rooney (1f) 0-3 each, T Prior 0-2, C McHugh, A Flynn, B McNulty (f), Ryan O’Rourke 0-1 each.
Kildare: M Donnellan; M O’Grady, S Ryan, R Burke; T Archbold, B Byrne, J Sargent; A Masterson, K Flynn; S Farrell, D Kirwan, P McDermott; P Woodgate, N Kelly, K Feely. Subs: A Beirne for Farrell (ht), K O’Callaghan for Flynn (49), B Kelly for Kelly (53), R Houlihan for Burke (62), S O’Sullivan for Masterson (64)
Leitrim: N O’Donnell; C McHugh, M Diffley, A Flynn; D Wrynn, R Oberwan, T Prior; M Plunkett, B McNulty; J Foley, K Clancy, Ryan O’Rourke; B Guckian, D Rooney, J Rooney. Subs: Riordan O’Rourke for Clancy (ht), A Oberwan for J Rooney (44), D Cox for Guckian (63), C Reynolds for McHugh (64)
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan)
