Donegal have their first points on the board in Division 1 thanks to a 1-15 to 3-7 win over 14-man Kildare in Ballyshannon today.

Ryan McHugh's 64th minute goal proved decisive as Declan Bonner's charges edged out the Lilywhites by two points.

In the basement battle, Daniel Flynn had given the visitors the perfect start with an early goal and had a second ruled out shortly after for a square ball infringement.

His 7th minute green flag score separated the sides at the break (Kildare 1-3, Donegal 0-5) after Paddy McBrearty brought the curtain down on the first-half scoring with two fisted points.

Niall Kelly and David Slattery also found the back of the Donegal net in the second-half but McHugh's effort made it advantage Donegal in the home straight.

Kildare's cause wasn't helped by the 16th minute dismissal of Eoin Doyle.

Referee David Gough issued the defender with a second yellow card for not wearing a gum shield!

Their numerical disadvantage caught up on Cian O'Neill's side in the second-half as Donegal, with captain Michael Murphy featuring from the start, outscored them by 1-10 to 2-4.

Murphy contributed 0-3 (1 free) to their final tally while McHugh and McBrearty hit 1-2 and 0-4 respectively.

Donegal - S Patton; E Ban Gallagher (0-1), C Ward, S McMenamin; P Brennan, E Doherty, T McClenaghan; H McFadden (0-2), O MacNiallais (0-1); R McHugh (1-2), L McLoone, M McHugh; P McBrearty (0-4, 1f), M Murphy (0-3, 1f), J Brennan (0-1). Subs: N O'Donnell (0-1) for T McClenaghan, N McGee for C Ward, S McBrearty for J Brennan, C McGonagle for M McHugh, C Thompson for O MacNiallais, N Mullins for N O'Donnell.

Kildare - M Donnellan; P Kelly, D Hyland, M O'Grady; C O'Donoghue, E Doyle, J Byrne (0-1); K Feely (0-3f), T Moolick; F Conway (0-1), N Kelly (1-0), P Cribbin; B McCormack, D Flynn (1-1), K Cribbin. Subs: P Brophy for B McCormack, K Flynn (0-1) for C O'Donoghue, D Slattery (1-0) for P Cribbin, C Healy for P Kelly, F Dowling for F Conway, M Sherry for T Moolick.

Referee - D Gough.

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