Derry let rip in the closing 12 minutes to finally put away Longford with a flurry of eight late scores at Celtic Park.

The Oak Leaf men opened the scoring after only 12 seconds when Charlie Kielt’s diagonal ball put Enda Lynn into space but despite dominating possession and territory they failed to add to their total kicking five consecutive wides.

Longford punished that profligacy as Francis McGee converted from a free. Derry centre back Mark Lynch showed his forwards how it should be done when he pointed from 50 yards but Longford levelled through Bernard McElvaney.

Derry continued to dominate and while their first half wide count reached eight the in-form James Kielt was a class apart kicking a free after a foul on Daniel Heavron and kicking two superb points from play.

That left Derry 0-5 to 0-2 clear at the interval but a three-point margin was a scant reflection of the Ulster side's first half superiority.

The second half continued in a similar vein with Derry spurning chances to pull away until late in the game. Longford seemed to tire in the last 10 minutes and the Ulster side took full control to come out as easy winners.