At the second time of asking, Kildare have beaten Longford at O’Connor Park – 1-18 to 0-10.

This two teams played out a gripping draw after extra time at this venue seven days ago but in today's replay Kildare pulled away in the second half to put their opponents to the sword and advance to the last four, where they will lock horns with holders Dublin next weekend.

Fergal Conway’s wonderful solo goal - dispatched emphatically to the roof of the net at the end of a determined run - had the Lilywhites ahead by 1-4 to 0-4 at the end of a hard-fought opening period, where scores proved hard to come by.

It wasn’t until the 18th minute that David Givney opened the scoring from a ‘45’ but Conway replied immediately with the game’s only goal before Tommy Moolick and McGivney swapped points. Adam Tyrrell and Neil Flynn pointed frees for Cian O’Neill’s men but the midlanders refused to roll over just yet and Joe Hagan cancelled out Tyrrell’s point at the end of the opening period as Longford remained very much in touch.

Even though Longford posted the first point after the restart, Kildare found their mojo and reeled off six points inside seven minutes through Flynn (2), Tyrrell (free), Paddy Brophy, Conway and Ben McCormack.

Darren Quinn and McGivney brought Longford back within six, 1-10 to 0-7, but Kildare turned on the afterburners again and points from David Slattery, Flynn, Moolick and McCormack had them ten to the good at the three-quarters stage.

Flynn’s free on the hour ensured that the gap remained at ten and Niall Kelly added to the winning tally six minutes from the end, Moolick following up with his third and Keith Cribben popping up with the winners’ 18th point as they won at their ease in the end. While Kildare now prepare for a massive Croke Park meeting with the Dubs in a week, Longford must brush themselves down for a first-round Qualifier away to Carlow next Sunday.

Kildare - M Donnellan; M Dempsey, M O’Grady, P Kelly; D Hyland, E Doyle, K Cribbin (0-1); K Feely, F Conway (1-1); D Slattery (0-1), B McCormack (0-2), T Moolick (0-3); A Tyrrell (0-3, 2f), P Brophy (0-1), J Hyland. Subs: N Flynn (0-5, 4f) for J Hyland, N Kelly (0-1) for K Feely, C McNally for B McCormack, E O’Flaherty for P Brophy, C Healy for D Slattery, K O’Callaghan for A Tyrrell.

Longford - P Collum; P Fox, D McElligott, B O’Farrell; C P Smyth, P McCormack, D Quinn (0-1); J Keegan, D McGivney (0-5, 4f); G Rogers, B McKeon, M Quinn (0-2f); D Mimnagh, J McGivney, D Doherty. Subs: A Farrell (0-1) for B McKeon, J Hagan (0-1) for D Doherty, A McElligott for G Rogers, M Hughes for J Keegan.

Referee - S Hurson.

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