Kildare hurling manager Brian Dowling acknowledged his side's 10-point win over Antrim was "massive" for the side as they seek to build momentum for the remainder of the campaign.
Last year's Joe McDonagh champions, who came up from Division 2, overcame Antrim in a landmark win in Newbridge, with goals from James Dolan and Muiris Curtin in a whirlwind third quarter powering them to victory.
It is a vital win for Kildare, who began their campaign with a sobering loss to Dublin in Parnell Park and who host runaway favourites for the division, Clare, in a fortnight's time.
"It's a massive one for us,especially at home here today," he said on RTÉ Sport's Sunday Sport.
"Oursevles and Antrim would definitely have targeted this, to get two points on the board.
"We've Clare coming here Saturday week and we've three games after that. This puts us in a great position. To have two points in the bag is unreal for us and it'll give lads great confidence going forward."
Kildare had scored 0-11 in their league opener in Donnycarney, only one of which came from play.
It was a completely different story for their forward line this afternoon, with Dowling crediting a more bullish approach.
"The first half, we were really good, three points up at half time. But second half, I think we just decided to put the foot down and go at them.
"Our plan all week was to really go at them and attack. We probably didn't do that against Dublin enough. We probably played with the handbrake up.
"So we released the handbrake there and said, have a go, have a right cut, and just have a bit of courage and take lads on. And that's what the lads did, and we got our rewards there today with three goals."
The result plunges Antrim into serious trouble, with zero points from three games, with a crunch game at home to Carlow in two weeks' time. For Kildare, its opened up possibilities, with a free hit against Clare coming up.
"Look, Antrim are a very good team. They've obviously been playing the Leinster Championship the last couple of years. We beat them in the Walsh Cup. That was a big win for us as well.
"Obviously you want to be winning games. You don't want to be losing any types of games. So you can train all you want but if you keep losing games, the confidence is going to drain out of the group.
"So we're just delighted now to get two points and this is something to build on for the next couple of weeks."
For Curtin, who buried the second and third goals, the first of which was a screamer, it was a confidence building triumph.
"It was almost a four-point league match," he said.
"We knew we had to be on it today. We just stuck with our process. We got the vital goals there in the second half to put a bit of a margin between the teams and saw it out from there.
"We've Clare in two weeks' time. We're under no illusions. Clare are absolutely top class. They came down from 1A, we came up from 2. But I think we'll take good confidence from that performance today."
