Cardigan 7 Pembroke 10 Scott Bowen was the hero of the hour for Pembroke Youth as his last-gasp penalty from a difficult angle earned the young Scarlets the silverware at the expense of a Cardigan side which had led for much of the match but couldn't hold out against considerable Pembroke pressure.
Outside half Bowen took the kick, awarded five metres in from touch on the right hand side and almost 40 metres from the posts, and showed real composure as he drifted the ball in to perfection so that skipper Robert Jones was able to lift the trophy just moments later as Cardigan were left to reflect on a moment of indiscipline off the ball that cost them so dearly because up until then a replay seemed very much on the cards.
Bowen had also showed his kicking prowess after 25 minutes of the second half when he converted a Gary Pickering try from wide out on the other side to level matters, following Pickering's switch from flanker to his regular first team position of centre, where he received quick ball from Ryan Hayward, and Bowen to brush away his marker and crash through in the left corner.
Cardigan had opened the scoring after only 12 minutes in almost the same spot after skipper Robert Connolly had been held up over the line by Luke Hansford and Tom Surtees. The Teifisiders scored from the resulting set-piece however, as Tom Turner fed half back partner Mike Diggle on the blind side and the No 10 was awarded the try despite vehement protests from the Pembroke contingent that he had lost the ball in the tackle.
To add insult to injury, Diggle also added the excellent touch-line conversion.
Pembroke responded with a series of raids where they could have scored but were denied a single point as Bowen scuffed a penalty and there was terrific covering by Daniel Jay, Amlyn Griffiths and Dylan Richards for the Teifisiders, alongside some superb tackling from Tom Turner, Rhys Hogsden and Aled Jones.
Matthew Lewis went close in the right corner for the Scarlets as Pickering, Hansford and skipper Robert Jones worked hard to keep possession - and then Lewis cut inside from another phase to set Pickering away but his long pass couldn't set up a Scarlets' score, despite good support work by full back Arron Nicholas.
Barry Bowen also created space on the left but his final pass to Williams went astray and the interval saw Cardigan holding a seven-point lead.
Bowen almost grabbed a try for Pembroke soon after the restart but his interception attempt didn't quite go to hand and with play drifting into the final quarter it seemed as if that single score would seal Cardigan success. But Pembroke always posed a threat with the pace of Nicholas and the power of Mark Williams allied to No 9 Hayward's constant probing - and then Pickering ploughed through and Bowen did the rest as Pembroke celebrated their comeback win to leave Cardigan reflecting on one silly error in a match that was always hard but never dirty and a credit to both sets of coaches in terms of discipline.
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