FAI Cup final: Derry City 4, St Patrick's Athletic 3After a league season that will not be remembered for many of the right reasons we get a cup final that few who witnessed it will be able to forget. Proof again, it seems, that if the game here could just be judged on what the players do on the pitch it really might be widely regarded as something to be proud of.

Here, two sides the bookmakers for some reason suspected would produce a mismatch managed instead to produce quite the most exciting final of the Carlsberg-sponsored FAI cup in recent years. The atrocious conditions had given rise to the strong suspicion the game would have to be endured rather than enjoyed.

Instead two sides hell-bent for very different reasons on lifting this trophy produced an open, quick and enthralling contest that scarcely needed its goals to make it memorable. Still, the seven we got, a couple of them gems, did add a certain something to the proceedings.

By Derry the victory was seen not just as a reward for their efforts here at Lansdowne Road or in this year's cup generally but rather as a measure of vindication for the self-belief they had generated over a remarkable campaign during which they produced a couple of stunning European results and almost pipped Shelbourne to the league title. If the joy of the City players afterwards was understandable, though, so too was the utter desolation evident in the faces of the St Patrick's players as they filed out of the stadium.

Throughout the build-up to yesterday's game, John McDonnell had bristled slightly each time it was mentioned that St Patrick's Athletic had gone 45 years without lifting the trophy. That the counter has clicked on by one this morning will be a somewhat secondary concern for the Dublin club's manager. Rather it will be the fact that his side led their opponents three times yesterday thanks to goals from Dave Mulcahy, Trevor Molloy and Seán O'Connor but still couldn't even force a penalty shoot-out.

Never could the underdogs have been said to have been on top but on each occasion they took the lead there seemed an opportunity to exert some control of the game and, ultimately, the destination of the silverware. Each and every time, however, they were unsettled and picked apart by a Derry team who made their own painful league experiences of the past two seasons count for something here.

City, for the most part, looked the better side in every area of the pitch. Though the opening exchanges were terribly poor as both sides sought to get to grips with the swirling wind and driving rain, Mulcahy's opening goal - a coolly taken affair after a fine through ball by Anto Murphy and neat sidestep by Paul Keegan - transformed matters entirely.

The Northerners discovered the urgency that had previously eluded them and began to assert themselves, particularly in midfield where Pat McCourt, in the absence of effective countermeasures, was rampant and Barry Molloy became the dominant force in the pitch's central area.

Up front, Mark Farren worked with tireless efficiency, chasing every ball down and winning far more than he had any reason to expect, while City's back four did enough to persistently frustrate Trevor Molloy and Paul Keegan.

McCourt set up the game's first equaliser just five minutes after Mulcahy's effort with a remarkable piece of running on the ball followed by an even better pass forward for Farren who also finished well.

As the second half wore on Trevor Molloy's influence on his own side's display grew steadily, and 15 minutes from time he won what had every chance of being a match-winning penalty when Peter Hutton needlessly took him down inside the area.

The former Shamrock Rovers striker stepped up to convert the kick himself and then set about involving himself in every aspect of his team's defence of the advantage.

Within sight of the finishing line, however, the task proved too much for the Dubliners. Molloy himself gave away the free-kick - again, a little reckelessly - that led to the goal but it was McCourt who lobbed the ball back into the danger area and Clive Delaney who got the vital header after Killian Brennan's cross had initially been cleared.

As the game moved into extra-time the expectation was City would finally make their superiority tell but remarkably, St Patrick's, benefiting from a couple of changes in personnel and the apparent belief they really could upset their opponents, were to get their noses in front again, O'Connor this time finishing superbly after neat work by Mark Quigley down the left.

This time there would be no excuses for squandering the opportunity. With 25 minutes to hold out, the game was hardly won but there seemed every reason for optimism.

Instead, it was the City contingent who were soon singing again. Hutton provided the equaliser after being left entirely unmarked at the far post as McCourt floated in a corner and then Stephen Quigley misjudged Killian Brennan's free from the right and succeeded only in turning it into his own goal. It was cruel way for the game to be won but an exciting climax, nevertheless, to an unexpectedly good final.

DERRY CITY:Forde; McCallion, Hutton, Delaney, Brennan; Deery (McGlynn 72), Higgins (McHugh 78), Molloy, McCourt; Beckett (Hargan 95), Farren.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC:Ryan; S Quigley, C Foley, Brennan, Frost; Murphy (O'Connor 46), M Foley, Mulcahy, Rutherford; Molloy, Keegan (M Quigley 62).

Referee:D Hancock (Dublin).