Favourites Meath lived on their wits in Navan before conjuring a series of late scores to see off determined Sligo, securing their first win in the All-Ireland qualifiers since 2011.
The Royals trailed by three points at half-time and were still behind with 67 minutes on the clock against a Sligo side battling for their lives.
Four points in a row, including two from the returning Mickey Newman, who hadn't featured all season due to injury, ultimately eased Meath through to Round 3A.
Sean Tobin weighed in with two injury-time points also as Andy McEntee's side shrugged off a torrid record of six consecutive defeats in the qualifiers.
There was drama late on though as Sligo, trailing by that three-point margin, had a David Kelly shot cleared off the line by James Toher and Kelly's follow up attempt was blazed over.
Sligo's season is over and while Meath bounced back from their heavy defeat to Kildare in the Leinster championship they will need to improve to extend their own campaign much further.
Meath were on home soil in the qualifiers for the first time since losing to Kildare in 2011.
Boss McEntee made three changes to the side that lost again to the Lilies last month, introducing Brian Power, Ruairi O Coileain and Sean Tobin for Donnacha Tobin, James Toher and Bryan McMahon.
As for Sligo, goalscorer Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch and veteran attacker Mark Breheny were late additions to the line-up having initially been named on the bench.
Former captain Breheny, the longest serving inter-county footballer, had fond memories of Meath having made his debut in a league game against them way back in 2000.
The first-half was a forgettable affair but Sligo weren't overly bothered as they took a 1-06 to 0-06 lead into the interval.
O'Kelly-Lynch's 30th-minute goal separated the sides in a dour, free-ridden half.
Patrick O'Connor did the spade work with a run through the middle before offloading to O'Kelly-Lynch who bundled the ball over the line under pressure from a number of backs.
It was a hammer blow for Meath supporters who turned out expecting a strong response following the team's nine-point defeat to Kildare.
The Division 2 outfit only registered four points from play in the entire first-half with just two of those from forwards, captain Graham Reilly and James McEntee.
Sligo did have the wind advantage and Murphy's 27th-minute point that tied the game up at 0-06 apiece rode the wind from a long way out.
Meath, who lost midfielder Ronan Jones to an early injury, sought to capitalise on the breeze after the break as they shot into the town end goals themselves.
They did, but only to an extent, and while they fought back to level terms after 54 minutes with points from Reilly, Cillian O'Sullivan, Donal Lenihan and Sean Tobin, they couldn't move ahead.
Sligo captain Neil Ewing hit an inspirational 58th minute point to put his side one clear again, 1-08 to 0-10, and punched the air in a bid to rally his colleagues.
Sligo lost experienced half-back Brendan Egan to a black card and Meath were further boosted by the sight of Newman coming on with around 10 minutes to go.
He had an instant impact with two points from frees while Tobin came into his own late on, converting a 45 and then tapping over the insurance score in the 75th minute.
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Meath: P O'Rourke; D Keogan, C McGill, M Burke; P Harnan, B Power, S McEntee (0-01); B Menton, R Jones (0-01); J McEntee (0-01), C O'Sullivan (0-01), G Reilly (0-02); R O Coileain, S Tobin (0-03, 0-01 45), D Lenihan (0-03, 0-03f).
Subs: J Toher for Jones 15, B Conlon for Power h/t, T O'Reilly for J McEntee 57, M Newman (0-02, 0-02f) for Lenihan 61, D Tobin for Harnan 65, E Wallace for O'Sullivan 75.
Sligo: A Devaney; R Donavan, C Harrison, K Cawley; G O'Kelly-Lynch (1-01), B Egan, N Ewing (0-01); A McIntyre, P O'Connor; J Kelly, M Breheny, N Murphy (0-01); S Coen, P Hughes (0-01), A Marren (0-04, 0-03f, 0-01 45).
Subs: N Gaughan for Harrison 47, K Cawley for Kelly 48, K McDonnell for Breheny 54, D Kelly (0-01) for Egan 58 (black card), S Gilmartin for McIntyre 67, C Davey for O'Connor 72.
Referee: N Mooney (Cavan).
