St. David's skipper Dejuan Paynter is a proud man after his side were crowned First Division champions on Sunday, clinching the title with their 4-1 win over Young Men's Social Club.

Heading into the final weekend, the Islanders were two points ahead of East End rivals St. George's, with the win confirming their place at the summit of the charts.

St. George's also won, a 7-1 triumph over Ireland Rangers and will be in the Premier Division next year as well.

The team have had to endure a long road to get back their top flight status, having played in a play-off last year with Devonshire Colts to secure the final spot in the Premier Division, only to lose out in a penalty shootout..

The mood, however, is considerably different this time around as they not only gained promotion, but also won the league, their first triumph in more than15 years.

"We are finally to get our top flight status back after a few years of missing out, either on goal difference or the play-off last year," said Paynter.

"A lot of our success come down to our commitment to each other as a team and a special mention to OJ Minors who was our chief scorer and put in a lot of work this year.

"Promotion was our main thing and to win the league outright makes it that much better after we went out in the Shield early."

The club's record speaks for itself, 73 goals scored, 12 allowed and a single loss to X'Roads in January, although an early exit to St. George's in the Shield was a bitter pill to swallow.

Now the side must re-group and look to prepare themselves for the bigger challenge that lies ahead.

Next up for the side will be the ominous task of survival in the top flight, something Paynter is confident they can do.

He said they had faced a stiff test in the First Division this season and praised their rivals St.Georg'es and Robin Hood, who finished third in their debut season in the second-tier.

"We scored 73 goals and didn't let in that many so we had a total performance this year, but the icing on the cake is winning the league to be promoted which some say we haven't done in roughly 17 years, so it is good to make history.

"Next year we know it will be a lot harder and more effort will be needed to get the required results to stay up, but we won't panic and say we can't do this or do that.

"We have to pick a few players with experience but we won't make wholesale changes.

"I tip my hat off to St George's and Robin Hood who pushed us the whole way and made things difficult, especially to our rivals across the water who will be joining us.

"But overall we are pleased with the season now we can focus on the next task, which will be survival and making inroads in the Premier Division."

Somerset 2 (4)

St. George's 2 (5)

St. George's emerged victorious at Somerset Cricket Club in the R.O. Smith Veteran All-Star Over 40s match with a 5-4 penalty shootout win over rivals Somerset.

The first-half action saw the hosts take the lead through Dwayne Richardson before Stevie Dickinson levelled matters for St. George's.

St. George's then went ahead early in the second half when Charles Wade scored after following up on a shot driven in by Cay Rayner.

Somerset increased the pressure as they searched for the equaliser and it soon paid off with a goal from Kevin Bailey.

The score remained locked at full-time sending the match to penalties.

In the shootout, St. George's converted all of their penalties from Dickinson, Rayner, Derek Wright, Carlos Greaves, and Franklin Greaves.

Bailey, Dwayne Richardson, Anthong Basden, Anthony Burchall all struck before Rudell Tankard had his effort saved by Ernest McCallan.

Man of the match honours went to Greg Smith and Charles Christopher for St. George's and Somerset respectively.