GAELIC GAMES: St Vincent's ... 0-12 St Brigid's ... 1-7: St Vincent's folklore is vast, but the end game here will sit comfortably alongside any other story they can remember out Marino way.
Time was up. St Brigid's had pulled within two points thanks to a score from replacement Johnny Noonan. The ball was pinging around 10 yards or so from goal. Bodies were on the line. Possession broke loose and Kevin Bonner let fly. Michael Savage pulled off the save of a lifetime.
Referee Gary McCormack blew his whistle.
The wait was finally over.
Considering St Vincent's dominance throughout, it would have been a travesty if St Brigid's stole it at the death.
It was always going to be about composure. The 2003 champions, St Brigid's, possess a wealth of experience in contrast to the youthful exuberance and naked desperation of a club seeking to end a 23-year famine.
St Vincent's lead the Dublin roll of honour with 25 titles, but until they ended this drought they could not lay claim to being a superpower club. On they go with provincial and national accolades certain to keep them hungry.
Tradition becomes less relevant if not built upon. None of the present team can remember 1984. Sure, they see the great names like Kevin Heffernan, Tony Hanahoe and Brian Mullins around the club, but that was a different time.
Last season they came agonisingly close to finally reaching the summit until UCD burst their bubble.
Last night, the present group wrote a new chapter to sit nicely alongside the other great achievements of this GAA institution.
They will not care that it was a horrible game of football - the crowd were never afforded a chance to raise the decibel levels - because their main players all showed up.
Men like captain Tomás Quinn, the unpredictably brilliant Diarmuid Connolly and colossal centre back Ger Brennan (has he not done enough to warrant a run in the Dublin number six jersey?).
It's no coincidence that St Brigid's employ defensive patterns akin to the Joe Kernan school of hard knocks. Their manager Justin McNulty was a member of the Armagh panel that changed football en route to the 2002 All-Ireland.
When St Vincent's came at them there were up to 14 men behind the ball with Bonner cutting a lonely figure up at the opposite square policed by at least two defenders. It also gave Brennan licence to adopt a sweeper role that stifled any quick break-outs.
The defensive slant meant chances were restricted to angled and long-range shooting. As they disappeared into the changing rooms at half-time St Vincent's had seven points from nine shots. St Brigid's had 1-3 and five wides.
The goal came in the opening minute, before St Vincent's had settled into the defining match of their season. They were caught napping as Paddy Andrews profited from some good work by Bonner to pull the trigger without so much as a finger laid on him.
The response was calm and calculated, with Connolly looking particularly sharp when skilfully avoiding a gang of defenders to clip over a point. Brian Maloney bowled over Mick Galvin to land another before Kevin Golden and Quinn made it four points without reply.
An inspirational score from Paddy Andrews and another from Martin Cahill meant just a point separated the sides.
St Brigid's delayed their return to the field, but immediately levelled the contest through the nomadic Rory Gallagher. Their next three attacks ended up with shots falling short - a regular and costly feature for them.
Considering the pedestrian pace, it seemed like a seminal moment when Connolly again intervened to put St Vincent's back in front, after Declan Lally had squared it for a fourth occasion.
The match had gone completely flat until St Vincent's' Conor Brady, on the pitch three minutes, was presented with a clear sight of goal. He scuffed it wide. At least Golden, and then Maloney, extended the lead moments later.
All they had to do was hold on. The late onslaught came with Gallagher dropping some bombs into the square's edge and then came Bonner's late swipe. Savage leaped to his left and, before his parry hit the turf, they had been put out of their misery.
In the minor final, St Brigid's beat Na Fianna 0-11 to 0-6.
ST VINCENT'S:M Savage; P Conlon, E Brady, H Gill; T Doyle, G Brennan, P Kelly; H Coughlan, M O'Shea; K Golden (0-2), T Diamond, N Billings (0-1); B Maloney (0-2), D Connolly (0-3, one free), T Quinn (0-4, two frees, capt). Subs: P Gilroy for H Coughlan (40 mins); C Brady for N Billings (43 mins)
ST BRIGID'S:P Keane; M Cahill (0-1), D Cahill, A Daly; G Norton, M Galvin, Peadar Andrews (capt); K Darcy, B Cahill; M Cahill, D Lally (0-1), D Dineen; R Gallagher (0-2, one free), K Bonner (0-1), Paddy Andrews (1-1). Subs: C Lynch for D Dineen (24 mins); L McCarthy for M Cahill (40 mins); J Noonan (0-1) for D Cahill (55 mins).
Referee:G McCormack (Naomh Barrog).
