Cookstown (Tyrone) 1-7
Spa (Kerry) 0-8

Barry Hughes kept cool to blast home a 52nd-minute penalty which proved the difference in Tyrone champions Cookstown overcoming Spa of Kerry to clinch the All-Ireland club intermediate football championship crown yesterday at Croke Park.

Things had looked promising for Spa after opening up a 0-3 to nothing lead by the ninth minute through former Kerry Under 21 All-Ireland winner Mike O'Donoghue.

Cookstown had kicked eight wides during the first-half and they weren't off the mark until the 13th minute when Conor Mullan ran through to raise a white flag, but it sparked a flurry of scores from Chris Eastwood, Mullan and Brian Mulligan to push the favourites into a 0-4 to 0-3 lead five minutes before the break.

Spa recovered well though as Fergus Clifford and O'Donoghue kicked them back in front just before the short whistle and they maintained their one-point advantage into the third quarter thanks to a combination of clinical scoring and their opponents' wastefulness in possession.

Niall O'Mahony struck what looked like a worthy decisive score for Spa with 12 minutes to go, but a Martin Murray free cancelled that out and gave Cookstown some real belief. Three minutes later and Raymond Mulgrew got himself dragged down by Spa 'keeper James Devane and they were awarded a penalty, which centre-back Hughes came forward to bash to the net.

Despite O'Mahony striking another score to bring the gap to the minimum, Tyrone ace Owen Mulligan ensured the victory for Cookstown with a nerveless free in injury-time to help send another All-Ireland crown up north. Tweet

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