Marc Cunningham celebrates Tyrone's first minor title since 1998

The key period of the match came in the seven minutes after half-time when Tyrone hit four points without reply to lead 0-10 to 0-6.

Kerry, spurred on by Paul O'Connor who hit six points, fought back in the closing stages but Tyrone held on.

Raymie Mulgrew and Ronan McCrory both hit three points for the Red Hands.

Full-back Paul Marlowe also had an outstanding game for Tyrone with him getting the better of his contest with Darren O'Sullivan for the most part.

Tyrone made the better start with Colm Cavanagh's point in the opening minute then added to by scores from Cathal O'Neill and Raymond Mulgrew.

However, Kerry should have notched a goal in the fifth minute after O'Connor had breached the Tyrone defence but his shot from close range crashed back off the crossbar and the ball was cleared.

The Kingdom did open their account in the 13rd minute from a Daniel Doyle effort from play.

Ronan McCrory (left) hit three crucial points for Tyrone

After O'Connor had pointed to leave the minimum between the sides, Darren O'Sullivan had a hint of a goal chance for Kerry but Tyrone defender Niall Kerr made a brilliant block to avert the danger.

With O'Connor on target on a couple of occasions, Kerry levelled as half-time approached but in injury-time Ronan McCrory pointed to leave the Ulster Champions ahead at the interval.

O'Connor pointed again two minute into the second half but Tyrone then produced four unanswered points in the crucial period of the match.

Two of the points came from McCrory while man-of-the-match Mulgrew also got in on the scoring act during that pivotal period.

After the burst of scores in the seven minutes after time, the game then went a quarter of an hour without a score and Tyrone maintained their four-point advantage going into the last 10 minutes.

To their credit, Kerry did fight back in the closing stages with the previously subdued Brian Moran managing to knock over two points.

At times we lived nervously but in the 15 minutes after half-time, we got four fantastic scores Tyrone joint-manager Liam Donnelly

However, Tyrone always looked as though they were going to hold on and the point from substitute Cathal McCarron as the game entered injury-time ended any real hopes of a Kerry fightback.

In the final seconds of injury, Darren O'Sullivan produced a dangerous run into the heart of the Tyrone defence and while the resultant foul wasn't pretty, it got the job done as far as the Red Hands were concerned.

O'Connor knocked over the 21 yard free but it was the last kick of the game.

Delighted Tyrone joint-boss Liam Donnelly agreed that the period after half-time had been crucial to his team's success.

"At times we lived nervously but in the 15 minutes after half-time, we got four fantastic scores," he said.

"That set a platform for us to go on from and we held on."

Donnelly also expressed his appreciation to Mayo fans who cheered on the Tyrone youngsters.

Kerry: B Kealy, P Reidy, L Quinn, K Young, D Doyle (0-1), C Kelliher, D O'Connor, B Moran (0-2), R Keating (0-1), M Evans, A Kenneally, M O'Donoghue, S Murphy, D O'Sullivan, P O'Connor (0-6).