Pat Dunlea was the toast of Canovee after his late penalty handed the Cork side a dramatic victory over O'Callaghan's Mills of Clare in the Munster junior club football final at Askeaton. Canovee.......1-6 O'Callaghan's Mills.1-5 Underdogs O'Callaghan's Mills looked to have done enough when they led by two points as the game entered stoppage-time, but the Cork champions were then thrown a controversial lifeline when the referee awarded a penalty for a foot block. Dunlea, a winner of three All-Ireland junior medals with Cork, stepped forward to fire the resultant spot kick to the net and snatch victory for Canovee. It was rough justice on the Clare champions, who produced a marvellous battling performance, only to be denied an historic win right at the death. Canovee played with the aid of a strong win in the opening half and Kevin Walsh gave them a perfect start when he pointed after just 35 seconds. But Mills refused to roll over and were back on level terms, 0-2 apiece, at the end of the first quarter. Then, in the 20th minute, the Clare side enjoyed a stroke of good fortune when a goalkeeping error by Canovee's Tim Lyons resulted in a goal for Noel Donnellan. Buoyed by that, Mills finished the half strongly with Donnellan landing two points to open a 1-4 to 0-4 interval lead. A shock result looked on the cards when the Clare champions extended their lead to four points thanks to a fine Eoin Pewter effort on the restart. With Pat Baker, Niall Donovan and Declan Donovan magnificent in the Mills defence, Canovee were frustrated time and again, but they halved the deficit with points from Dunlea and Tomas O'Mahony before Dunlea won it with his late penalty. Scorers: Canovee: P. Dunlea 1-4 (1-0 pen., 0-3 frees); K. Walsh, D. O'Sullivan 0-1 each. O'Callaghans Mills: N. Donnellan 1-0; B. Donnellan (0-1 free), P. Donnellan (0-1 45) 0-2 each; E. Pewter 0-1. CANOVEE: Tim Lyons; J. McCarthy, J. Scanlon, Timmy Lyons; J. O'Brien, T, Murphy, B. Ahern; E. Lyons, B. O'Donoghue; T. O'Mahony, P. Dunlea, D. O'Sullivan; C. Dunne, K. Walsh, P. Healy. Sub: D. Cronin for Healy. O'CALLAGHANS MILLS: E. O'Brien; N. Donovan, P. Baker, G. Neville; F. Donovan, D. Donovan, S. Donnellan; N. Nash, J. Murphy; B. Donnellan, P. Donnellan, C. Cooney; E. Pewter, N. Donnellan, C. Collins. Sub: J. Hook for N. Donnellan. Referee: T. O'Sullivan (Waterford). Tweet

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