Meath 0-16 Kildare 3-17
Niall Kelly led the siege with two goals in Navan as Kildare made an early statement of their intention to push hard for promotion from Division 2 of the Allianz Football League.
The centre-forward was on fire and combined with Ben McCormack for 3-05 of the Lilies' tally as they bounced back from their recent O'Byrne Cup disappointment.
Kildare were surprisingly beaten in that competition by Dublin's development squad but, with 13 of the same team, produced a morale boosting win and will look forward to hosting Cork next Sunday.
It was a disappointing first League game for new Meath manager Andy McEntee who will demand an improvement next weekend.
McEntee's players left themselves with a mountain to climb after a terrible start and conceded a goal inside the first 20 seconds.
Kildare worked the ball upfield from the throw-in and McCormack applied a low left-footed finish back across the goals from the left channel.
Daniel Flynn and Paul Cribbin added points and Kildare were flying with a 1-02 to 0-00 advantage after just four minutes.
The visitors dominated almost for half an hour and led 2-07 to 0-03 with 29 minutes on the clock.
Kelly scored their second goal in the 13th minute after a pacy break forward that cut Meath's shaky looking rearguard to ribbons.
It was a nightmare beginning for McEntee, the 2016 AIB All-Ireland club title winning Ballyboden St Enda's manager, in front of around 4,000 expectant home supporters.
Meath finally came to life approaching the break and closed out the half with four points in-a-row to suggest that all may not be lost.
New captain Graham Reilly scored one of them and won another free that Donal Lenihan converted, his fourth point of the half.
Cillian O'Sullivan, a key player for Meath's minors in 2012 when McEntee led them to the All-Ireland final, impressed too and went close with two goal chances.
But Kildare were generally good value for their 2-07 to 0-07 half-time lead and built on their advantage after the break.
McCormack, Eoin Doyle and Paul Cribbin all pointed before Kelly got his second and Kildare's third goal in the 48th minute after great work by Neil Flynn up the right wing.
Kildare rolled in all six of their substitutes in the last 10 minutes and Meath finished a little stronger with points from Alan Forde, Bryan Menton, O'Sullivan and Menton but the result was already beyond doubt.
Kildare: M Donnellan; M O'Grady, D Hyland, O Lyons (0-01); J Byrne, E Doyle (0-01), K Cribbin (0-02); K Feely (0-01), T Moolick; F Conway, N Kelly (2-02), P Cribbin (0-03); B McCormack (1-03), D Flynn (0-01), N Flynn (0-03, 0-01f).
Subs: C McNally for Conway, P Kelly for O'Grady, S Ryan for Byrne, E Callaghan for N Kelly, C Hartley for D Flynn, D Slattery for McCormack.
Meath: J Hannigan; M Burke, C McGill, D Keogan; B Power, S McEntee, A Douglas; C O'Brien, B Menton (0-01); C O'Sullivan (0-02), A Forde (0-02), G Reilly (0-04); E Wallace, B Sheridan, D Lenihan (0-07, 0-05f).
Subs: D McQuillan for Burke (Black card), R O Coileain for Power, A Flanagan for Douglas, B O'Brien for Sheridan, C Downey for Wallace, W Carry for McEntee.
Referee: C Branagan (Down).
NEXT WEEK: Another home tie for Meath as Derry head to Navan for a 3pm throw-in on Sunday, Kildare are at home to Cork at 2pm.
