IF EVER there was a case for the result being more important than the performance, this was it. As Kildare fumbled their way to survival in the National Football League Division One relegation playoff at Croke Park yesterday, this curtain raiser to the Donegel-Wicklow quarter-final never threatened to take centre stage.

For much of the game it looked as though most of the players had forgotten to move their clocks forward the night before. Only Kildare's Davy Dalton and Niall Buckley, at times Paul McCormack, and Laois's Adrian Phelan and Leo Turley seemed awake to the real importance of avoiding the dreaded drop.

Late replacement, John Whelan, gave Kildare the lead after 11 minutes, kicking a point with the outside of his left boot. Although Leo Tudey equalised after knifing through the centre of the Kildare defence, Martin Lynch and Paul McCormack's points reflected the Lilywhites' more cohesive approach play.

Last year's minor star Ian Fitzgerald together with Buckley moved the scoring on leaving the minimum between the sides (0-5 to 0-4) at the break.

Admittedly, the second-half did produce two moments that lifted the game out of its general drudgery. First, the manner in which Lynch clinically finished to the net after 45 minutes, was coolness personified in the face of oncoming goalie Emmet Burke. This gave his side a definite 1-9 to 04 initiative.

Five minutes later, corner forward Paul McCormack dived between his marker, Tom Conroy, and Burke to palm a Martin Murray cross to the net after seven Kildare players had engineered a move that began in the hands of keeper Christy Byrne. This put the issue beyond doubt. With Kildare ahead 2-11 to 0-8 the game petered out, with the matter long decided.