Let
be a longest path in . Every neighbour of either endpoint lies on . Suppose . Among the possible cut positions of the path, the sets
have total size greater than , so they intersect. The corresponding two edges close a cycle containing all vertices of .
If , connectivity supplies an edge from a vertex outside this cycle to a vertex on it. Breaking the cycle there and adjoining the outside vertex creates a path longer than , a contradiction. Hence
Since and , the long path from minimum degree gives . Thus contains .