The irony of referee Paddy Russell whistling a late penalty for Cavan wasn't lost on anyone at Breffni Park yesterday. Again, it appeared to have materialised in dubious circumstances - David O'Neill's block on Jason Reilly looked fair but in any case, it hardly mattered.

As Ronan Carolan stepped up to take the kick, Henry Downey limped off to a resounding chorus of approval from the Derry hardcore and thick streams of supporters traipsed up the dusty hill behind Breffni Park.

Carolan's low-struck shot was - inevitably - parried to safety by Derry goalkeeper Damien McCusker, framing a sunny afternoon of abject misery for Cavan.

Indeed, the presence of McCusker between the sticks was just one of the many mischiefs Derry manager Eamonn Coleman sprung on us in the minutes before the throw-in. Yes, Joe Brolly played, no, Joe Cassidy didn't. The Downey brothers were back with a vengeance. Geoffrey McGonigle was back on the bench. Anthony Tohill at times touched the godly heights at which he regularly resided in the earlier part of the decade and, as a whole, Derry glowed with the sort of tidy urgency and sweeping authority for which they once were feared.

And afterwards, Coleman beamed with the old-time glee which haunted many sides in summers past.

"We were hungrier today. That was the difference. And we played well and maybe Cavan weren't as good as people thought they were. But we proved a lot of people wrong out there - and in Cavan as well."

The sight of Coleman holding court and tossing words around like confetti is a good omen for Derry. Yesterday must represent his happiest hour since he returned to the job. His team literally owned the ball and they ran Cavan ragged to such a degree that at one point in the second half they could have been forgiven for losing interest. That Cavan's final score came in the 42nd minute told a tale.

"That was good. I liked that," sang Coleman. "To hold a team to five points and just two from play is good. We won every battle on that field but there are lots of things we need to work on for the next day. I think that's enough for now."

Cavan manager Val Andrews could but wish the victors well and consider a galling hour with a rueful smile.

"You have those days in football. We just didn't play. Look, I don't know what happened, I'll have to look at the video," he said.

What happened was that Cavan simply couldn't buy the ball. From the first minute, it was obvious that Tohill had rediscovered that midfield radar of his and repeatedly he towered over Jamie Coffey and Phil Smith - and, subsequently, Paul Murphy - to take some spectacular fetches.

Tohill was peerless but he had close company in Henry Downey, Niall McCusker and Paul McFlynn, who ruled the break of ball. In the first half they contented themselves with thumping snow-capped balls down to Seamus Downey and Joe Brolly.

That ploy yielded a series of frees which Tohill picked off comfortably but as early as the sixth minute, there was a sense of panic about Cavan, a realisation that they were on the verge of being starved of possession.

They kept vaguely in touch in the first half: Bernard Morris battled gamely at half back and direct running by Coffey and the two Reillys resulted in sorely-needed points from free-kicks by Carolan.

But in the 19th minute, Enda Muldoon cut through Cavan's last line and toyed with the idea of passing to Brolly before shooting to the net.

Down 1-5 to 0-2, Cavan were in serious bother and when Dermot McCabe - who was comfortably guarded by Sean Marty Lockhart - erred in attempting to goal from close range just before the break, the writing was on the wall. In the second half, Derry scorched with a welcome combination of strength and inventiveness, much of it stemming from the wonderful half-back trio of McFlynn, Downey and Gary Coleman.

As early as the 45th minute, the match had lapsed into showtime - Muldoon iced a hard-running afternoon with a couple of gorgeous points and Johnny McBride fired a marvellously acute score to leave matters at 1-11 to 0-5.

After that, scores just rained upon the home goal, to such an extent that there was palpable relief when Muldoon chipped a point when a goal looked the easier option.

Even so, the Cavan defence always looked likely to cave in again and there was little surprise when Dermot Dougan palmed a ball from deep in the square and leisurely toe-poked the ball home himself after 65 minutes.

By then, perhaps Cavan were wishing they'd never drawn last week. It was a sad day in a town that was heaving with expectancy. Now, the same belief will surge through the Oak Leaf county.