Stephen O'Donnell had hit the opener for Harps just after the hour mark before Crossan notched his first with nine minutes left on the clock, but Kildare hit back through McDermott to leave in store a nervy conclusion.

But, Crossan put a gloss on the scoreline with a finish from close range in the final minute to give Anthony Gorman's side a much-needed three points and bring them to within a point of Limerick FC.

With no victories in their previous seven outings to show for their endeavours, it was no surprise to see a paltry attendance converge on the Ballybofey venue for last night's fixture with the numbers trundling through the turnstiles struggling to break the 300 barrier.

Once more the Harps side was considerably under strength with suspension and injury again taking their respective tolls.

The suspended trio of Minnock, Funston and Meenan watched from the terraces, as did the injured Davitt Walsh as Gorman was forced into changes from the side that had lost to Athlone last week.

Matt Crossan - Two Vital Strikes

Into the starting eleven went Matthew Crossan, Shane O'Connor and Ryan McGavigan as Gorman once again deployed a 4-5-1 formation with Stephen O'Donnell acting as the lone front man.

The first half was largely uninspiring with the goal mouth incidents very much at a premium in the Ballybofey rain.

David Bell flashed a first-time shot wide of the mark while Shane O'Connor almost found himself in when a clearance from John Flynn came off the Ballyshannon man's back only to roll wide and Barry Curran, too, was guilty of a bad miss with the last kick of the half.

At the other end, James Gallagher was having a relatively quiet evening at the office too as the visitors' chances were also minimal and as such the stalemate was still intact at the end of the opening 45minutes.

Kildare sent on David Scully at the interval and the number 14 was causing all sorts of problems for the Harps rearguard after his introduction.

On 54 minutes he broke clear but fired into the side-netting when he really should have hit the target and he also set up Philip Gorman with a great opportunity four minutes later but the front man fired wide from close range.

Just after the hour mark, the home side edged in front much to the relief of the Finn Park faithful.

Stephen O'Donnell broke from just inside his own half and outpaced his man before despatching powerfully past Flynn for goal number seven of his career in the blue and white of Harps.

The Thoroughbreds then missed a couple of great chances to level matters almost immediately after O'Donnell's opener. Philip Gorman fired wide and Barry Clancy was also off-target after a slip by Shaun McGowan.

Scully was again to the fore moments later as his back-post header was met by the arms of James Gallagher. The Harps 'keeper eventually collected after shouts from the Kildare players that the ball had crossed the line.

The hosts doubled their advantage with nine minutes remaining when Matthew capitalised on a mistake by Alan McDermott to nip in, round Flynn and tap home into the unguarded net.

As is the norm though, Harps didn't conclude in a comfortable fashion and with six minutes to go Kildare pulled one back when McDermott made up for his error three minutes previously as he nodded past Gallagher after Scully headed a free-kick back across goal.

However, there was to be collapse for the home side on this occasion as Matthew Crossan was on hand to convert O'Donnell's cross to make it 3-1 and give Harps their first win in eight games.

Harps now look forward to a trip to Kilkenny City next Saturday for a game that will kick off at 4.00pm to avoid a clash with Ireland's Euro 2008 Qualifier against Cyprus.

Finn Harps: James Gallagher; Shaun McGowan, David Bell, Eloka Asokhu, Shane Bradley; Barry Curran, Matthew Crossan, Anthony Gorman, Shane O'Connor, Ryan McGavigan; Stephen O'Donnell. Subs: Gary Crossan (for McGavigan, 89mins).

Kildare County: John Flynn; Ian Maher, Barry Clancy, Alan McDermott, Philip Byrne; Stephen Cooling, Stephen McCrossan, Gareth Christie, Alan Mulcahy; Philip Gorman, Paddy Mahon. Subs: David Scully (for Mahon, h/t); Mark Gibson (for Mulcahy, 54mins); Barry Slattery (for Clancy, 69minutes).

Referee: Neil Doyle