John Maughan's Mayo hit eighteen wides but still managed to pull through to the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals, winning the fourth round qualifier 0-11 to 0-08 against Cavan.
Watched by a Dr Hyde Park attendance of 13,270, wasteful Mayo set up a repeat of last year's All-Ireland final against Kerry on the back of a strong first half display.
Their patchy second half, dogged by an avalanche of wides, will have enraged Maughan, but Cavan also boasted some shoddy shot-takers.
Stand-in boss Marty McElkennon could only count on three scorers - Dermot McCabe, Finbarr O'Reilly and Larry Reilly - throughout the entire seventy minutes.
Things began to unravel for the Breffni men after full-back Darren Rabbitt had lost his battle with a niggling leg injury, just seven minutes in.
0-2 to 0-1 in front thanks to points from McCabe and Reilly, Cavan were suddenly two in arrears as Ciaran McDonald's move to full-forward paid dividends for Mayo.
Captain McDonald slotted over, after Pat Kelly's initial point, and then played a part in setting up scores for Ronan McGarrity and late call-up Austin O'Malley.
The latter added another as the beaten Connacht finalists pushed 0-6 to 0-2 ahead by the 22nd-minute.
Finbarr O'Reilly kept his side in touch from placed balls, yet Mayo still finished out the half with a double scores lead - 0-8 to 0-4.
Maughan's charges turned in a Jekyll and Hyde performance after the restart, however, notching more wides than points amidst some excellent touches from McDonald.
They waited until the 55th-minute before opening their second half account with a point from substitute Marty McNicholas.
By that stage, Cavan, through two Reilly overs, had reduced the gap down to two - 0-6 to 0-8.
McNicholas's point re-opened Mayo's goal-difference, and that's how it stayed as two McCabe frees were matched by points from James Gill and Alan Dillon, and with that, Cavan's six-game summer was at an end.
Cavan: J Reilly; M Hannon, D Rabbitt, P O'Reilly; M Cahill, A Forde, P Reilly; D McCabe (0-3, 2f), P McKenna; M McKeever, N Walsh, F O'Reilly (0-2, 1f); S Johnston, J O'Reilly, L Reilly (0-3).
Subs: C Collins for Rabbitt, P Brady for McKenna, J Tierney for Johnston, A Gaynor for P O'Reilly, C Mackey for Walsh.
Mayo: D Clarke; D Geraghty, D Heaney, G Ruane; P Kelly (0-1), J Nallen, P Gardiner; R McGarrity (0-1), S Fitzmaurice; M Moyles (0-2), C McDonald (0-1), A Dillon (0-2, 1f); C Mortimer, BJ Padden, A O'Malley (0-2).
Subs: J Gill (0-1) for Moyles, M McNicholas (0-1) for Mortimer, B Moran for Fitzmaurice.
Referee: T Quigley (Wexford).
