Lacken 1-10
Cootehill 1-10

Lacken and Cootehill will have to do it all again after both teams drew this afternoon's dramatic intermediate championship final at Kingspan Breffni Park.

After having led for 53 minutes of this decider, Lacken looked to be in trouble when Enda Hessin crashed in a late penalty for Donal McAdam's side, who would again level in injury-time through the outstanding John McCutcheon before free-taker Mark Mullan was presented with a chance to clinch the title with the last kick of the game.

The centre-forward sent wide though and Jason O'Reilly's men were glad to breathe a sigh of relief at the end, while surely wondering afterwards how they let their opponents back into the game having led by five points at the break.

Lacken had asserted their authority on this game from the throw-in by kicking the first four scores inside the opening 11 minutes, with marksman Raymond Galligan slotting two frees and Conor Finnegan backing up an outstanding point from Finbar O'Reilly from the left flank.

Mullan opened Cootehill's account from a free in the 14th minute, which Galligan soon erased from his third placed ball. A fine drive from McCutcheon yielded Cootehill's next score, which saw the midfielder locate Tom Hayes in space and the nippy corner-forward lost his marker to split the posts.

In the next attack, Joshua Hayes made a vital interception on James Moynagh for what would have been a sure Lacken goal and it was the town side that recycled possession up their end to feed Hessin, who was impeded in a suitable position for Mullan to convert the resultant free.

It looked as though Cootehill were beginning to gather some momentum at this stage, but they would be dealt a huge set-back when a long ball in from Niall McKiernan wasn't dealt with and let Galligan in for a well-finished goal, putting the gap at five. Ciaran Fox pulled back a sorely needed score for the town side, but their indiscipline at the back was still costing them dear as Galligan's fourth free closed the half at 1-6 to 0-4 in Lacken's favour.

A smart save from Colin Comerford on John McCutcheon inside the opening minute of the restart signalled Cootehill's intent for the second-half, with scores from Enda Hessin and McCutcheon (2) making it a two-point game on 36 minutes.

Two Niall McKiernan points (1 free) followed before a straight red card for Damien Sherlock looked to have devastated Cootehill's prospects, but they earned a penalty in the process after Mullan had been dragged down in the Lacken square. Hessin expertly converted the kick past Comerford's dive to ignite his team, who levelled for the first time on 53 minutes when their talisman McCutcheon landed a spectacular score from all of 45 metres.

The game was for the taking at this point and it looked like it was about to swing Lacken's way when Finbar O'Reilly darted over a free earned by McKiernan on the edge of the square, but they would have to come through four minutes of added time which proved too long to hang on as McCutcheon demonstrated more heroics with the equaliser before Mullan's late free sailed wide of the post.

Lacken: Colin Comerford; Shane Finnegan, Trevor Crowe, Damien McKiernan; Nevin McKiernan, Philip Moynagh, Martin Brady; James Galligan, Joe Crowe; Niall McKiernan (0-2, 1f), Finbar O'Reilly (0-2, 1f), Michael Shanaghy; James Moynagh, Conor Finnegan (0-1), Raymond Galligan (1-5, 5f). Sub: Stephen Brady for J Moynagh (60).

Cootehill: Ryan Carroll; Ciaran Fox (0-1), Barry McGahon, Gerard Argue; John Carney, Joshua Hayes, Dean Connolly; Brian Sherlock, John McCutcheon (0-4, 1f); Damien Sherlock, Mark Mullan (0-2, 2f), Stephen O'Connor; Tom Hayes (0-1), Glen Nulty, Enda Hessin (1-2, 1 pen). Sub: Colm Smith for G Nulty (41).

Ref: Martin Sexton (Cavan Gaels) Tweet

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