A splendid goal by Nigerian striker Ranti Martins was enough to secure Goa's Dempo Sports Club its maiden Durand Cup triumph in Delhi on Monday.
The 74th minute goal put paid to JCT, Phagwara's aspirations of winning the coveted trophy after ten years.
Dempo became only the second Goan side to lift the title following Salgaocar's triumphs in 1999 and 2003.
The teams had played out a 1-1 draw in the quarter-final league which ensured them berths in the semi-finals and saw the premature exit of East Bengal and defending champions Army XI.
On Monday neither team sat back in a fast-paced encounter and goalmouth opportunities at both ends were the order of the day.
Punjab came close to scoring in the second minute. A great pass at the edge of the area from Nigerian Chidi Edeh found Parveen Kumar with only goalkeeper Satish Kumar to beat, but the striker's control betrayed him.
At the other end, Brazilian Beto's strong shot from outside the area was fisted over the bar by JCT custodian Kalyan Chaubey.
The Goan outfit had three shots at goal one after another from around the six-yard box but they were saved on the line.
Dempo had a close shave themselves, when, in an attempt to clear the ball ahead of the dangerous Chidi, Valeriano Rebello miscued it towards his own goal, and it was only the agility of Satish Kumar that saved the team.
Chaubey came to JCT's rescue at the half-hour mark when he blocked a shot by the impressive Anthony Pereira from point blank range.
JCT, backed by a large section of the crowd at the Ambedkar stadium, which made it almost a home match for them, squandered another opportunity before the break, when a centre from Harish Sharma was headed down by Parveen, only for Chidi's shot to be blocked by a defender.
In the second half, Sukhjinder Singh, who came on in place of Nigerian Sunday Ambrose in the first session itself, let go a powerful drive from outside the area which Satish did well to save.
For Dempo, midfielders Jerry Zirsanga and Pereira were combining well, but the latter had to come off due to injury mid-way into the second period.
Martins signalled his intentions a few minutes later when his strong attempt was tapped past the post by Chaubey.
However, the deadlock was soon to be broken. Beto dispossessed Parveen inside his own area and gave a square pass to Martins, who controlled the ball, turned around, and beat the custodian at the near post with a powerful right-footer.
After getting the goal, Dempo were content to get a bit defensive and went forward only on the counter-attack.
JCT brought on Jaswinder Singh to shore up the wing play, but they paid the price for not being able to get in telling crosses into the danger area.
Dempo's assistant coach Mauricio Afonso was understandably elated with the result.
"This is a big day for Dempo. Let alone the final, we had never reached the semi-final of this prestigious tournament," he said.
But he was quick to give credit to the opposition for a worthy title fight.
"It was a very tough match. JCT also played well," he said.
Afonso, who coached Goa at the recent Santosh Trophy, admitted that this success was balm for the dismal failure in the national championship.
"This makes up for the disappointment in the Santosh Trophy," he said.
Goa had entered the tournament as the defending champions and title favourites, but failed to make it to the last four.
JCT coach Sukhwinder Singh was gracious in defeat.
"It was a good match and Dempo were deserving winners. Our team had to play seven matches in 11 days, but they tried hard," the former national coach said.
He, however, blamed poor finishing as one of the reasons for the defeat.
"Both teams had chances to score. We could have found the net on several occasions, including at the very start. If you miss such chances, it is very difficult to win big matches such as these," Sukhwinder said.
The winners of the third oldest football tournament in the world got richer by Rs 10,00,000, while the runners-up had to be content with Rs 400,000.
