Donnelly sealed a thrilling victory for the Red Hand with a superb 75th-minute score.
Mattie Donnelly kicked a nerveless injury-time point to help Tyrone to their first points of the season, seeing off Kildare after an absorbing contest in Newbridge.
Mickey Harte’s men were run all the way to the end by the Lilies, whose manager Cian O’Neill will certainly be cursing his side’s wides on another disappointing afternoon for them in Division 1.
Kildare started wonderfully, too, flying into a four-point lead thanks to scores from the excellent Fergal Conway (2), Ben McCormack and Kevin Feely from a free.
Scór Leathama @KildareGAA 0-10 @TyroneGAALive 1-08
Bí linn don dara leath. #AllianzLeagues #GAABEO
Lee Brennan i dtreo chúl an fheasúra! pic.twitter.com/JbD9740OWp— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) February 11, 2018
The Red Hand started slowly but came back into it strongly, with Niall Sludden, Lee Brennan and Tiernan McCann bringing them score back to 0-5 to 0-3.
Kildare led 0-8 to 0-5 when Lee Brennan brought the visitors back to level terms with a finely taken goal after 27 minutes. Tyrone finished the first half strongly to lead narrowly 0-10 to 1-8 going into the break.
After a closely-fought second half, it came down to Donnelly, who, as snow fell on St Conleth’s Park, produced an exceptional effort in the sixth minute of injury time to win it for Tyrone and take the points in dramatic fashion.
Scór Deiridh @KildareGAA 0-18 @TyroneGAALive 1-16
Scór spreagúil ó Mattie Donnelly!! Last gasp win for Tyrone.#AllianzLeagues #GAABEO pic.twitter.com/DqnaBtKXrj— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) February 11, 2018
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