National Football League: Division One B: Wexford repeated their championship win over the Lilywhites last summer when they comfortably claimed both league points at Newbridge yesterday.
Wexford made better use of the wind during the opening half of a game which saw Kildare's Glenn Ryan and Paddy Colfer yellow-carded just before the break. And the visitors defended well against the elements in the second period.
Wexford, who defeated Armagh in the opening round, came to Newbridge full of confidence and took an early lead with a wind-assisted point by Kinsella inside the first minute.
The irrepressible Matty Forde added a free, but Kildare levelled by the fifth minute with both scores coming from the game's top scorer John Doyle. And Doyle struck for Kildare's only goal when he combined with Pádraig Donnelly to hit the net from close range a minute later.
Derek McCormack extended the home side's advantage to four points, but Wexford soon hauled themselves back into the game. Forde was on target three times and Kinsella tied up the game for the second time in the 21st minute. Kildare then conceded a penalty when Forde was fouled and John Hudson made the most of the opportunity.
Kildare managed two points before the end of the half, but Redmond Barry and Forde each pointed, giving the winners a 1-10 to 1-6 lead. Kildare had the help of the wind to look forward to in the second half, but they came under early pressure when they conceded successive points to Forde and Hudson, which pushed Wexford into a six-point lead.
Kildare had a penalty awarded when Wexford goalkeeper John Cooper was penalised for a foot block on Tadhg Fennin, but Ronan Sweeney's shot was saved.
Doyle eventually pointed for Kildare to secure their first score of the second half, but Forde soon replied. Kildare simply squandered too many scoring chances to haul themselves back into the game, only scoring three times in the second period.
And though Wexford were also wasteful, they did more than enough to stay ahead of Kildare and can now be confident of at least retaining their place in the top division.
The winners lost their influential midfielder Diarmuid Kinsella to a yellow card in the second half.
WEXFORD: J Cooper; C Morris, P Wallace, N Murphy; D Breen, D Murphy, S Cullen; D Kinsella (0-4), B Doyle; D Fogarty, P Colfer, R Barry (0-1); D Foran, J Hudson (1-1, goal from pen), M Forde (0-7, four frees). Subs: K Kennedy for Doyle, P Curtis for Breen.
KILDARE: E Murphy; E Callaghan, D Hughes, A McLoughlin; A Rainbow, G Ryan, K Ennis; M Foley, K Brennan; D McCormack (0-1), R Glavin, R Sweeney; T Fennin (0-1), P Donnelly, J Doyle (1-6, five frees). Subs: J O'Donoghue for Glavin, T Archbold (0-1) for Kavanagh.
Yellow Cards - Wexford: P Colfer replaced by J Hegarty, D Kinsella replaced by R Mageean. Kildare: G Ryan replaced by J Kavanagh.
Referee: A Mangan (Kerry).
