Cavan fell into the division three relegation the play-offs after falling to Derry by two points at Kingspan Breffni.
Derry were the better side overall having led 1-7 to 1-6 at the break and produced a strong third quarter to eventually win 2-11 to 1-16.
Rory Gallagher’s men made a blistering start to the game and led 0-5 to no score inside the first ten minutes.
Cavan then hit four points on the trot leaving the smallest of margins between them at the first water break.
Caoimhin McGovern, Oisin Kiernan, Raymond Galligan and Luke Fortune were all on the mark for Cavan.
The Breffni men got their noses in front after the restart when Gearoid McKiernan found the net in the 26th minute.
Two minutes later, parity was restored as Niall Loughlin replied with one for Derry before a point from Shane McGuigan saw Derry lead by a point at half-time.
Derry completely dominated the next quarter and led by seven points at the next water break after hitting six points without reply.
Cavan closed the gap in the final quarter and a goal from Martin Reilly brought the deficit back to single point with four minutes remaining.
This was as good as it got from Cavan’s perspective as Derry ran out two point winners.
The oak leaf county can now look forward to a league semi-final date with Limerick while Cavan will play Wicklow as they look to retain division three status in two week's time.
