Kevin McStay’s charges emerged for the second half like a different team, hitting the first four scores without reply.
Tommy Conroy landed a mark before nailing a fine individual effort from an ever narrowing angle under real pressure.
Aidan O’Shea got his first of the day to level the scores before another O’Donoghue free had Mayo ahead for the first time with 45 minutes on the clock.
Brendan Rogers steadied the ship for his side with their first score of the half ten minutes in and it was quickly followed by a first from Gareth McKinless to edge the visitors back ahead.
There were 50 minutes on the clock when O’Donoghue’s skilful flick over the Derry defenders’ heads had Conroy in on goal but the subsequent effort was blocked by the foot of McKinless. With referee Brendan Cawley at the perfect vantage point, he awarded Mayo the penalty.
O’Donoghue stepped up and sent Lynch in the Derry goal the wrong way, rolling the ball into the bottom left corner of the net for his third championship goal this summer.
Murray replied with his fifth of the evening and Derry’s first in ten minutes to put one between the sides.
As the clock ticked into the final ten minutes, Matthew Ruane had the chance to put the game beyond the men in red and white as he raced clean through on goal only to be denied by a fine save by Lynch at full stretch.
O’Donoghue picked up the scraps to fire over and put two between them once again, bringing his personal tally to 1-4.
Patience was the order of the day among two defensive setups as the clocked ticked towards seventy minutes but Shane McGuigan got his first from play, and third of the evening, to put one between the sides with two to play.
The final seconds of normal time were intense championship fare as Conor Glass’ effort hit the big post before a scramble which ended with Chrissy McKaigue fisting over the bar to level the game 0-11 to 1-8 and send it to extra-time.