After a ding dong battle with Leitrim in the opening half, Mayo, who only led by the minimum at the break, upped their game in the second-half to claim a clear cut, but far from impressive win over the home side in Carrick-on-Shannon.
Mayo drew first blood when Mathew Ruane fired over a well hit 2nd minute point. After this score Leitrim settled down well and got on level terms when Darren Cox split the Mayo posts six minutes later.
Almost immediately Leitrim was awarded a two-pointer free, which Barry McNulty drove over the crossbar to put the home side into an unexpected early lead. But Mayo got back on level terms by the 13-minute mark after Ryan O'Donoghue and Aidan O'Shea converted a free apiece.
McNulty put Leitrim ahead by the minimum when he put over another two pointer from the 20th minute placed ball. Mayo then edged ahead, with points from Darren McHale and Jack Carney.
McNulty brought Leitrim back on level terms with a 29th minute free conversion. Mayo goalkeeper Colin Reape with 45 conversion and O'Donoghue from a placed ball kept the Mayo noses in front while Darren Cox split the visitor's posts before the break to leave the Green and Red leading by 0-08 to 0-07 at the interval.
In the opening ten minutes after the restart, Leitrim continued to keep it a nip and tuck affair with Mayo. In this period O'Donoghue fired over two Mayo points and Jordan Flynn added a point while Leitrim hit back with points from McNulty, Riordan O'Rourke (free) and Tom Prior.
Mayo then found an extra gear and put the game out of Leitrim's reach when knocking five unanswered points on the trot by the 54th minute. In this period O'Donoghue shot over twice for Mayo while Stephen Coen, Paul Towey and Jack Carney also split the Leitrim uprights.
From then to the finish, Leitrim's brave challenge ran out of steam for the remainder of the action and Mayo marched into a Connacht final with some degree of ease. Ryan added two points to his Mayo tally while Towey and Flynn chipped in with one each with McNulty and Prior answering with a point apiece for Leitrim.
Key: tp - two-point score; tpf - two-point free; tpm - two-point mark
Mayo: Colm Reape (0-01, 45); Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Enda Hession; Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Stephen Coen (0-01); Jack Carney (0-02), Mathew Ruane (0-01); Davitt Neary, Darren McHale (0-01), Jordan Flynn (0-02); Aidan O'Shea (0-01, 1f), Dylan Thornton, Ryan O'Donoghue (0-09, 5f).
Subs: Diarmuid O'Connor, Niall Coggins, Eoghan McLoughlin for Callinan, Neary, Ruane (HT); Paul Towey (0-02) for McHale (52); Shairroze Akram for Coggins (70).
Leitrim: Daire O'Shea, Kieran Clancy, Donal Casey, Éanna McNamara; James Rooney, Mark Diffley, Jack Foley; Barry McNulty (0-08, 2 tpf), Cillian McGloin; Jack Flynn, Keith Keegan, Ben Guckian; Darren Cox, Riordan O'Rourke (0-01, 1f), Tom Prior (0-02).
Subs: Paul Honeyman for Keegan (60); Tom Hughes for Casey (68).
Referee: Niall Cullen (Fermanagh):
