Darragh Canavan sparkled as Tyrone got their first win on the board and plunged Cavan into a desperate battle to hold on to their Division Two status.
Manager Malachy O'Rourke confirmed after the game that his star forward is heading to Australia for a month after the next round of league games, but "he will be back for championship".
The Breffni Blues have lost all three of their games to date, this one their heaviest defeat as the Red Hands ran riot in the second half at O'Neills Healy Park.
Brian Kennedy and Mattie Donnelly hit the net in the opening half, and they could have had three more goals but for the heroics of Cavan 'keeper Liam Brady.
Cavan caught Tyrone cold with 1-02 inside the opening four minutes, Oisin Brady landing a two-point free before Peter Corrigan intercepted a Niall Morgan kick-out to cross for Tiarnan Madden’s palmed finish to the net.
The Red Hands, stung into action, responded with the next three scores, Darragh Canavan with a couple of gems, and Frank Burns on target.
But with the Breffni men bossing the battle for possession from kick-outs, they renewed their onslaught, hitting the target through Corrigan and Gerard Smith.
The home side drew level at the end of the opening quarter, Ciaran Daly and Seanie O’Donnell combining to send skipper Brian Kennedy through to drill his shot to the bottom corner of Liam Brady’s net.
But they were nervous at the back, and slow to react to Niall Carolan’s solo-and-go that sent Dara McVeety in to bring the sides level for the third time.
However, the Red Hands were always a threat on the counter-attack, and a sweeping move ended with Kennedy crossing for Mattie Donnelly to punch home their second goal on 32 minutes.
They took a 2-07 to 1-06 lead into the interval, and pushed on as Canavan landed a two-pointer for a five points lead.
Paddy Lynch, off the bench at the interval to add a spark to the Breffni attack, flashed over a couple of scores from play and added a free to lead their fightback.
Now Canavan was making the Tyrone forward line tick, and Cavan needed two blinding saves from Liam Brady to deny McElholm and Seanie O'Donnell.
They garnered points off both incidents to stretch the advantage out to five, but in Lynch, Cavan had a man with an eye for the posts, his fifth point keeping his side in the game.
They could do little, however, to hold together at the back as the home side cut loose, moving the ball quickly and accurately to reel off score after score.
Canavan, Conn Kilpatrick, Joe Oguz, Donnelly, Rory Brennan and Michael McKernan were all on target as 12 players in total got their names on the score-sheet.
There was another golden goal chance as well as O’Donell crossed from the right, but McElholm and Ciaran Daly got in each other’s way when it looked certain that one of them would finish to an empty net.
Tyrone: N Morgan; C Quinn, M Rafferty, J Clarke; R Cassidy (0-01), M McKernan (0-01), B Cullen (0-01); B Kennedy (1-00), C Daly; E McElholm (0-04), C Kilpatrick (0-01), F Burns (0-02); D Canavan (0-09, 1 tp, 1f), M Donnelly (1-01), S O’Donnell (0-01).
Subs: J Oguz (0-01) for Cassidy (50), R Brennan (0-01) for Burns (53), C O’Neill for Rafferty (63), P Teague for Daly (63), E Jordan for McElholm (67)
Cavan: L Brady; J McLoughlin, J Meade, Cormac Brady; O Brady (0-03, 1tp), N Carolan, G Smith (0-01); Ciaran Brady, Conor Brady; Ciaran Brady (Arva), T Madden (1-00), Peter Corrigan (0-01); R Donohoe, G McKiernan (0-03), D McVeety (0-01).
Subs: P Lynch (0-05, 2f) for Donohue (h-t), B O’Connell for Cormac Brady (h-t), F Shehu for Madden (56), R Brady for Corrigan (56), C McGovern for Lynch (70)
Referee: B Tiernan (Dublin).
