It was Kildare’s first competitive outing under the experimental rules and 2018 U-20 star Hyland, one of the smallest players on the pitch, claimed three ‘advanced marks’ and scored points from all of them.

It added a new dimension to the discussion around the experimental rule which many presumed would chiefly benefit tall, powerful forwards.

Kildare opted to kick-pass regularly despite the poor conditions and only fell foul of the three hand-pass rule once in the entire game, in second-half stoppage time.

Ben McCormack, featuring for the first time since quitting the Kildare panel last spring due to work commitments, was black carded in the 10th minute.

It meant he was sidelined until the 20th minute under the new sin-bin directive before being allowed to return to play.

Kildare raced eight points clear and led 0-11 to 0-2 at half-time, wrapping up the win with four unanswered points midway through the second-half.

They’ll return to action on Thursday evening against Offaly in Kilcormac in their rescheduled Round 1 game.

Meanwhile, Robbie Smyth fired eight points on Saturday evening as Longford overcame Meath 0-9 to 1-5 in Ashbourne.

The O’Byrne Cup games involving Wicklow/Louth, Westmeath/Offaly and Wexford/Laois were all postponed.

In Leinster hurling’s Walsh Cup yesterday, fit again forward duo Donal Burke and Eamon Dillon maintained their strong form as Dublin picked up another win.

The Sky Blues backed up their mid-week win over Carlow by beating Offaly 0-27 to 0-18.

Back-to-back wins leaves new boss Mattie Kenny on the verge of joining Galway, Kilkenny and Wexford in next month’s semi-finals.

The former Cuala chief will be delighted with the contribution of speedy Dillon and the highly-rated Burke in particular.

The pair missed all of the big games under Pat Gilroy last season due to injuries but are back firing again.

They hit four points each, all from play, having swooped for similar hauls against Carlow.

Cian Boland and John Hetherton also raised white flags as Dublin hit the interval with a 0-15 to 0-10 lead.

Fergal Whitely and Conor Burke came on for Dublin and contributed 0-4 between them in the second-half.

Meanwhile, Eddie Brennan’s Laois slipped to a surprise 2-23 to 1-18 loss to Carlow.

Laois led by a point at half-time on home soil but were outscored by 0-14 to 0-5 in the second period.

Stephen Maher’s early goal set Laois on their way and there were points from Jack Kelly and PJ Scully.

But a Marty Kavanagh goal ignited Carlow and Ciaran Whelan added another for the McDonagh Cup champions.

Carlow piled on the second-half scores and Kavanagh finished with 1-10 to his credit.

Laois will wrap up their group campaign on January 6 against Dublin in O’Moore Park.