First Niagara Financial (FNFG) POSASR Automatic shelf registration (post-effective amendment)

Exhibit 23.1

Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors
First Niagara Financial Group, Inc.

We consent to the use of our reports dated February 26, 2010, with respect to the consolidated statements of condition of First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. and subsidiary (the Company) as of December 31, 2009 and 2008, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2009, and the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009, incorporated herein by reference and to the reference to our firm under the heading “Experts” in the prospectus. Our report dated February 26, 2010 on the consolidated financial statements referred to above included an explanatory paragraph describing the adoption of the provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 141(R), Business Combinations (included in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 805, Business Combinations), in 2009.

/S/ KPMG LLP
Buffalo, New York
March 16, 2010