Kildare demonstrated true grit in the Pearse Park sunshine to beat Longford by 1-16 to 1-13.

Substitute Chris Healy confirmed the Lilywhites' passage to Monday morning's third-round draw when he netted six minutes into injury time to leave five points between them, 1-15 to 0-13. In a match where the sides were level on no fewer than ten occasions, Longford refused to give up and Robbie Smyth plundered a last-gasp goal, only for Paul Cribbin to close the scoring with a 78^th-minute Kildare point.

Cian O'Neill's side had taken the lead for the first time when Eoin Dpyle fisted a point 90 seconds from the end of normal time. Kevin Feely started on the bench for the winners but made an important contribution when joining the action as a second-half substitute.

The first two of Neil Flynn's four first-half points had the sides level after seven minutes, 0-7 apiece, after a Smyth brace had got the midlanders up and running. Paddy Brophy cancelled out David McGivney's free; Sean McCormack's point was replied to by Flynn; Liam Connerton and Brophy traded scores...

Points from Smyth (free) and Connor Berry edged the losers two clear after 24 minutes and they led by the odd point from 17 at the end of an exciting opening period. Darren Gallagher and captain Donal McElligott adding to their tally while Tommy Moolick, Neil Flynn (free) and Daniel Flynn registered at the other end.

With the Kildare defence all over the place, Longford lucklessly hit the town end crossbar twice (via Connerton and McElligott) during the first half and they will feel that was ultimately the difference between victory and defeat tonight.

Fergal Conway's third point made it 0-13 apiece with 62 minutes played and further points from captain Doyle and Feely preceded Healy's match-winning goal. The winners had Peter Kelly sent off prior to that for a second yellow-card offence.

Gallagher's 56^th-minute effort proved to be the only point registered by Denis Connerton's fading charges during the (25-minute long) fourth quarter. The loss of full back Padraig McCormack to a black card at the three-quarters stage seemed to knock the wind out of their sails. Kildare exploited the weakness to keep their summer alive.

Kildare - M Donnellan; P Kelly, D Hyland (0-1), M O'Grady; J Murray, E Doyle (0-1), K Flynn; P Brophy (0-2), T Moolick (0-2); F Conway (0-1), P Cribbin (0-2), K Cribbin; N Flynn (0-5, 3f), D Flynn (0-1), N Kelly. Subs: E O'Connor for N Kelly (BC), D Slattery for K Cribbin, J Byrne for J Murray, C Healy (1-0) for T Moolick, C McNally for E O'Connor, K Feely (0-1) for F Conway (BC).

Longford - P Collum (0-1'45); P Fox, P McCormack, D Masterson; M Quinn, D McElligott (0-1), D Mimnagh; D Gallagher (0-2), C Berry (0-1); D McGivney (0-1f), D Reynolds, B McKeon; R Smyth (1-5, 0-4f), S McCormack (0-1), L Connerton (0-1). Subs: B Gilleran for P McCormack (BC), A Farrell for C Berry, D Quinn for D Mimnagh, P Foy for B McKeon, S Kenny for D McGivney, M Nally for D Gallagher.

Referee - J McQuillan.

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