Leitrim proved far too strong for Waterford at Fraher Field as Andy Moran's side made a convincing start to their Allianz Division 4 campaign.
The visitors looked a step above throughout and turned a six-point interval lead into a winning margin of 15 by time the final whistle was blown.
Moran made two late team changes to his Leitrim side before throw-in, with Conor Reynolds and Donal Wrynn replacing Cillian McGloin and Evan Sweeney.
The visitors made a flying start, with Shane Quinn opening the scoring before a brace of points from Darragh Rooney.
Waterford struggled to make headway in the opening half and only had two points on the board by the interval courtesy of Jason Curry and Jack Keane.
Rooney was showing his radar in both from play and placed balls and his side led at the break 0-08 to 0-02.
The resumption followed a similar pattern, with Rooney picking off the first three points before Dermot Ryan became Waterford's third scorer on the day.
There was no surprise when Leitrim found the back of the net through Evan Sweeney, but the Deise to their credit struck back immediately with substitute Alan Dunwoody also raising a green flag.
Waterford could only add on two further points after that score, with Pearse Dolan and Riordan O’Rourke clipping over points from play for Leitrim
O’Rourke put a gloss on the scoreline with a goal deep into added time as Leitrim ran out convincing winners on a 2-17 to 1-05 winners.
