After an even enough opening half, after which Monaghan led by three points, 1-5 to 0-5 while playing with the wind, any hopes Kildare had of turning the game around disappeared soon after the restart with Monaghan opening with two quick points and then adding a second goal, when a long ball in was won by Donnacha Swinburne over his marker, he turned and fired to to net to leave it 2-7 to 0-5 with just 36 minutes gone in the second half.
Despite the wind rising and the rain lashing down their was little improvement from Kildare while Monaghan kept the score board ticking, without playing particularly well it has to be said, but they simply had too much for a Kildare side that looked more tired as the game went on and at times bereft of ideas.
KILDARE: John Ball (Clane); John Lynch (Clane), Conor McGroary (Naas), Jack Himill (Raheens); Sean Englishy (Leixli), Kevin Kelleher (Ballymore Eustace), Daniel Caulfield (Sallins); Liam Broderick (Ballymore Eustace), Marcus Kiely (Two Mile House); Jack Cleary (Naas), Alex Beirne (Naas), Padraig Behan (Kilcullen); Eogan O'Haire (Newtown Gaels), Aaron Kennedy (St Laurence's), Paddy McDermott (Naas). Subs: Nick Jackman (Athy) for Sean Englisby (half time); Sam Reilly (Clane) for Liam Broderick (half time); Muiris Curtin (Rathangan) for Marcus Kiely (54 minutes); SeanHill (Kilcock) for Daniel Caulfield (55 minutes); Drew Costello (Naas) for Jack Cleary (59 minutes); Sam Morrissey (Naas) for Eoghan O'Hehir (63 minutes).
MONAGHAN: Ryan Farrelly; Ronan Grimes, Jack Doogan, Shane Hanratty; Christopher Flood, Brendán Óg Ó Dufaigh, Michael Meehan; Jordan McGarrell, Andrew Moore; Aaron Mulligan, Sean Jones, Karl Gallagher; Donnacha Swinburne, Loughlinn Power, Jason Irwin. Subs: Oisín O'Hanlon for Loughlinn Power (55 minutes); Joel Wilson for Jordan McGarrell (58 minutes); Jck McGeown for Ronan Grimes (59 minutes); Robbie Hanratty (63minutes).