Tommy Durnin and Conor Grimes struck the crucial goals as Louth cruised to a hugely significant win in Ardee, all but securing their Division 2 status for another season.
Mickey Harte's side led throughout and backed up their previous wins over Limerick and Meath with a morale boosting defeat of Glenn Ryan's troubled Kildare.
The Lilywhites hammered Louth by 2-22 to 0-12 in last year's Leinster championship but were no match this time around and slipped to their fourth Division 2 defeat from five outings.
The result leaves Kildare level on two points with Clare, a point above rock bottom Limerick whom they face next in Round 6 on 19 March.
Midfielder Durnin was Louth's Man of the Match with 1-02 in total and the result was all the more impressive as captain Sam Mulroy was taken off in the first-half with a hamstring twinge.
Louth still have ties against Cork and Dublin to come and if they win both then a shock promotion is not out of the question.
Kildare's difficulties began before the ball was even thrown in with defender Ryan Houlihan apparently picking up an injury in the warm up, prompting the late introduction of Kevin Flynn.
Ryan and his Lilies management team made three changes in all from the side that lined out against Derry and lost so heavily in Round 5, drafting in defender Jack Sargent and attacking duo Paddy Woodgate and Daniel Flynn.
Scoring has been a problem for Kildare in Division 2 with just 0-07 registered against both Derry and Cork.
They racked up seven points this time by half-time admittedly but were still wasteful, coughing up three fouls for over-carrying in attack in the opening period while poor shot selection and misplaced passing led to several more turnovers.
Both goalkeepers went long with the majority of their kick-outs and Kildare did profit with a couple of first-half points following impressive fetches at midfield by Eoin Doyle and Kevin Feely, Woodgate and Ben McCormack with the scores.
But last season's Leinster finalists largely operated in Louth's slipstream having conceded an early 1-01 to the in-form hosts.
Niall Sharkey opened the scoring for Louth with a seventh minute point and Durnin, latching onto a looping hand pass over the top of the Kildare rearguard from Sam Mulroy, snatched a goal two minutes later.
Durnin added a point later in the half with a clever fisted finish from tight on the left endline while Grimes closed out the half with a terrific second-half.
The powerful Glen Emmets forward burst through the centre of the Kildare defence and, with Eoin Doyle in his wake, struck a low shot to the corner of Mark Donnellan's net.
Following on from an earlier Daire McConnon point from an advanced mark, when he fielded superbly from Donal McKenny's long ball in, it left Louth with vital momentum and a 2-06 to 0-07 half-time lead.
Mulroy, who came into the game as Louth's leading scorer with 0-17, added two points from frees but was replaced after 28 minutes after a hamstring tweak.
Kildare were missing a talisman forward too with 2018 U-20 Player of the Year Jimmy Hyland ruled out through injury. Feely, just back from a serious achilles injury, was also taken off at half-time.
A promising period after the restart yielded points for Kirwan and Woodgate and suggested Kildare might just reel Louth in.
But while there were further bright spells and a couple of eye catching scores from Daniel Flynn and Barry Coffey, they never got any closer to Louth than three points.
Craig Lennon scored 1-01 as a sub against Meath last weekend and, along with Bevan Duffy, came on to fist over an important point for Louth in the closing minutes this time.
Louth: James Califf; Peter Lynch, Donal McKenny, Niall Sharkey (0-01); Leonard Grey, Ciaran Murphy, Conal McKeever; Conor Early, Tommy Durnin (1-02); Conor Grimes (1-00), Sam Mulroy (0-02, 0-02f), Liam Jackson; Daire McConnon (0-02, 0-01m, 0-01f), Ciaran Downey (0-01), Ryan Burns (0-01).
Subs: Bevan Duffy (0-01) for Grimes 6-14 blood, Craig Lennon (0-01) for Mulroy 28, Conal McCaul for Burns 57, Duffy for Jackson 61, Jay Hughes for McConnon 68.
Kildare: Mark Donnellan; Jack Sargent (0-01), Kevin Flynn, Mick O'Grady; Paddy McDermott, David Hyland, Shea Ryan; Kevin Feely, Kevin O'Callaghan; Eoin Doyle, Ben McCormack (0-01), Paddy Woodgate (0-03, 0-02f); Neil Flynn (0-03, 0-02f), Daniel Flynn (0-01), Darragh Kirwan (0-02).
Subs: Mike Joyce for McDermott h/t, Aaron Masterson for Feely h/t, Cein McMonagle for McCormack 48, Jack Robinson for Kirwan 55, Barry Coffey (0-01) for N Flynn 63.
Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin).
