Mount Anville's army of supporters were in fine voice as they filed into Grange Road yesterday afternoon for the Esat Digiphone-sponsored Leinster Schools' Senior Cup final against Wesley College. By 4.10 the same supporters were celebrating their school's first Leinster Senior Cup victory in 25 years, having beaten the holders 10 after extra time in a simply wonderful final.

And rarely was a victory more richly deserved. Twelve months ago many of the same Mount Anville players trooped off the pitch at Belfield, with tear-stained faces, after losing the 1998 final to the same opposition. They vowed they would be back. Yesterday they were as good as their word.

For 73 minutes they pounded the Wesley defence without reward, until their captain, Emma Jane Cassidy, finally made the breakthrough. Standing on the half-way line Rachel Assaf collected a clearance from her own defence and flicked a beautiful pass to Caoilfhionn Rowan on the right. The centre forward played it through for Cassidy on the edge of the Wesley circle and after Christina Proctor saved her first effort on goal she forced the rebound past the Wesley goalkeeper to end her team's relentless search for a score.

By then Mount Anville had forced 14 short corners, to Wesley's two, and their goalkeeper, Hilary Forde, had not been called in to action once. Assaf, Rowan and Erica Tierney, a late replacement for flu victim Sarah Nestor (who made a huge contribution to getting her school in to the final), supported by the midfield trio of Cassidy, Lisa Dowling and Barbara Fitzgerald, had put a valiant Wesley defence under extreme pressure for much of the game, but failed to break them down. Proctor was immense for Wesley. Time and again she denied Mount Anville sweeper Lisa Byrne, saving each of her many goal-bound short corner strikes. Rowan, Tierney, Alicia O'Connor and Cassidy were also foiled by the goalkeeper, who almost single-handedly kept her school in the game.

On the rare occasion that the Wesley attack - Nikki Symmons, Rebecca Stuart and Anna Carson - found freedom to roam, the Mount Anville defence, made up of Byrne, Claire Solan, O'Connor and Louisa Murphy, stood firm with O'Connor producing a superb marking display on Symmons, one of the country's finest players at this level.

Mount Anville: H Forde, L Byrne, A O'Connor, L Dowling, L Murphy, E Tierney, E J Cassidy (capt), B Fitzgerald, R Assaf, C Rowan, C Solan. Subs: L Hutch, B Fortune, R Woods, S Spillane, C Tobin. Coach: Maeve McCarthy.

Wesley College: C Proctor, L Harrison, H Burke, S Geoffroy, S Hayes (capt), E Braithwaite, S Walker, A Carson, R Stuart, N Symmons, P Agar. Subs: L McCoy, E Delahunt, D Porter, V Wall, R Carson.

Umpires: P Hale and B Carroll.