Having been given a first-half scare at Carrick-on-Shannon second half goals by Darragh Cummins and Jack Lavin gained Sligo a hard fought for and come from behind win over a battling Leitrim side.
Leitrim opened brightly when Ben Guckian whipped over a second minute two-pointer and seconds later Keith Keegan put the home side further ahead when he split the Sligo uprights. In replay the Sligo men got their account opened when Niall murphy tapped over a free on the three minute mark.
Riordan O'Rourke kept Leitrim in the driving seat with another point from play two minutes later. Sligo narrowed the gap to the minimum eight minutes into the action, thanks to points apiece by Alan Reilly and Paddy O'Connor.
Neither side managed to raise a flag of any description for another ten minutes until David Quinn whipped over an 18th minute Sligo point to level matters. But Leitrim got their noses in front almost immediately with a Riordan O'Rourke point.
Leitrim led at half-time by 0-11 to 0-08 after outgunning Sligo in the remainder of the half with a Barry McNulty two pointer from a placed ball plus a single free conversion while Tom Prior chipped in with two points with Darren Cox adding a point.
The Sligo men closed out the first half with points each from Paddy O'Connor, Cian Lally and David Quinn. Following the restart a 42nd minute Barry McNulty goal gave home a seven points advantage.
But then Sligo turned the tables on their opponents when Darragh Cummins palmed home a goal five minutes later with sub Lavin finding the Leitrim net with another palmed effort within the space of four more minutes.
Cummins goal for Sligo levelled matters on 1-14 apiece but a Tom Prior point for Leitrim shortly afterwards put the home side back in front for just a brief two minute spell. In replay David Quinn brought Sligo back on level terms for a fourth lime in the showdown.
Shortly afterwards Lavin's goal put the Sligo men into a lead they never subsequently relinquished.
Sligo: Aidan Devaney; Evan Lyons, Eddie McGuinness, Paul McNamara; Brian Cox, Darragh Cummins (1-01), Luke Towey; Paul Kilcoyne, Patrick O'Connor (0-04, 1tpf); Alan Reilly (0-01), David Quinn (0-09, 3 tpf), Cian Lally (0-01); Alan McLoughlin, Niall Murphy, Pat Spillane (0-01).
Subs: Jack Lavin (1-00) for Towey; Oisin Flynn for Lyons (48'); Dylan McHugh (0-01) for Spillane (59'); Peter Laffey (0-01) for Murphy (67').
Leitrim: Daire O'Shea; Éanna McNamara, Donal Casey, Kieran Clancy; James Rooney (0-01), Mark Diffley, Jack Foley; Barry McNulty (1-05, 1tpf), Cillian McGloin; Jack Flynn, Keith Keegan (0-01), Tom Prior 0-3; Ben Guckian (0-03, 1tpf), Riordan O'Rourke (0-02), Darren Cox (0-02).
Subs: Conor Quinn for McGloin (60); Joe McGloin for Keegan (62); David Feeney for O'Rourke (67).
