Playing great attacking football and moving with real pace and menace, Cavan continued their excellent start to the Division 3 campaign with an impressive win in Tullamore this afternoon.

It was Cavan's fourth win in a row and they are now odds-on for promotion as they look to be a step ahead of every other team in this division. A trip to Tullamore to play Offaly is rarely straightforward but Cavan were the better team by a distance and fully deserved to win by seven points, with Paddy Lynch scoring 10 for the Ulster men.

They could have won by more as they manufactured all the goal chances here but they could afford the luxury on this occasion. They laid a powerful foundation when playing into a stiff wind in the first half. The sides were level on four occasions, three times in the opening six minutes as they tore into each other.

It was 0-7 each after 25 minutes but Cavan got four points in a row to lead by 0-11 to 0-7 at half time. They got the first three points of the second half to take a 0-14 to 0-7 lead after 41 minutes and they points were in the bag at this stage.

Offaly did dig deep, especially after Jonathan McCabe got a careless 48th-minute black card but they never got true momentum. The gap was five, 0-17 to 0-12 after 58 minutes but Cavan sauntered home from here. They didn't attack with the same intensity as earlier as they concentrated on keeping Offaly at bay.

Scorers - Cavan: P Lynch 0-10 (7f), R O'Neill, J McCabe and E Boylan 0-2 each; R Galligan (1 45), D Brady, G Smith, C Madden and C Madden 0-1 each. Offaly: D Hyland 0-6 (4f); A Sullivan 0-2 (1f and 1m); D Hogan, P Cunningham (f), J McEvoy, J Maher, R McNamee (f), B Allen 0-1 each.

CAVAN: R Galligan 8; E Finnegan 6, P Faulkner 7, N Carolan 7; C Brady 6, D McVeety 8, T Madden 6; D Brady 8, K Clarke 8; G Smith 6, C Madden 7, J McCabe 6; P Lynch 9, R O'Neill 7, B Boylan 6. Subs: J McLoughlin 6 for Finnegan (53m), S Smith 6 for McCabe (59m), C Madden 6 for Boylan (60m), J Smith 6 for Brady (60m), C Rahill 6 for Madden (64m).

OFFALY: I Duffy 8; C Donnelly 7, D Hogan 6, D Dempsey 7; R Egan 6, P Cunningham 6, L Pearson 7; J McEvoy 6, C McNamee 6; J Maher 6, R McNamee 6, C Donohue 6; C Farrell 6, A Sullivan 8, D Hyland 7. Subs: B Allen 7 for Maher (HT), L Egan 6 for Ruari McNamee (45m), J O'Brien 6 for Hogan (50m), J Bryant 6 for Farrell (56m), J Evans 6 for Donohue (66m).

Ref: J Killeen (Sligo)