North Village 4

Devonshire Cougars 1

The 2008 edition of the Premier's Dudley Eve will be remembered as the 'Ralph Bean final' with the talisman inspiring Rams to an emphatic victory over Devonshire Cougars.

The Village skipper etched his name into the history books with a stunning hat-trick to leave Cougars shell-shocked as they succumbed to their second cup final defeat of the campaign.

For Village the oh-so satisfying victory signalled the end of their recent barren trophy spell and showcased Bean's credentials as a 'big game player' with the front-runner striking twice in the first five minutes to give Rams the dream start in the New Year's Day showpiece.

If his first goal demonstrated his prowess and poise with a turn and volley from Keith Jennings' free kick, his second characterised his unflappable nature as he calmly finished off the re-bound when his penalty was parried, after Randy Robinson had scythed down Keishen Bean.

It was a performance full of attacking brio and will surely leave national team coach Keith Tucker desperate for Bean to return to international football in time for Bermuda's World Cup qualifying campaign.

The irony of Bean's heroics would not have been lost on Cougars whose own 'Captain Fantastic' Kwame Steede harmlessly hobbled about the National Sports Centre, having obviously not fully recovered from the injury picked up in Sunday's physical semi-final against PHC.

To patch up a weary looking Steede for battle was a calculated gamble by Cougars coach Shawn Smith, and one for which they paid dearly.

Not only did it offer the early incentive to Village, who swarmed all over the Big Cats during the first quarter of an hour, but it also emphasised just how important Steede is to Cougars - on this evidence almost too important for their own good.

While his header did set up Raymond Beach for a fine left-foot volley as Cougars pulled a goal back on 14-minutes, Bermuda's new captain was on the periphery of proceedings at best and was never able dictate the match's tempo.

Concerning for Cougars, while they have a handful of exciting attacking talents coming through their ranks, also with Steede as their surname, at the moment it's too soon for them to take on the captain's mantle.

Village, on the other hand, possess an embarrassment of ball handling riches, so much so Sammy DeGraff was once again shoehorned uncomfortably out on the flank while Jennings' Keith and Jemeiko impressively bossed the midfield battle ground, making the most of the spacious NSC. What Cougars would have done for a DeGraff to step into Steede's shoes and share his responsibility?

Despite Cougars reducing the deficit, Village continued to threaten with Keishen Bean missing a guilt edge header from a devilish set piece from Keith Jennings' white boot.

But Ralph Bean soon restored Rams' two-goal cushion peeling off to the back post to head home another well-taken free-kick from Jennings to complete his hat-trick on 42-minutes.

The second-period saw Bean go close again with a brave header that saw him collide with keeper Clyde Darrell, who was quick off his line to prevent the striker from making a clean connection.

Cougars manfully endeavoured to fight back but in truth Raymond Beach and Domico Coddington posed little problems despite Village missing defensive linchpin Kofi Dill who was unavailable for selection.

On 86-minutes substitute Korvon Tankard completed the rout, placing his left-foot shot past Darrell with Bean fittingly the goal's creator with a delicate squared pass..

North Village

J.Williams T.Manders M.Hansey R.Wilson D.Tankard K.Jennings J.Jennings (V.Tankard 74) S.Hollis (D.Simons 83) S.DeGraff R.Bean K.Bean

Devonshire Cougars

C.Darrell J.Butterfield D.Cox J.DeShields (L.Brangman 80) K.Franks M.Smith K.Steede C.Casey (K.Tucker 36) R.Robinson D.Coddington R.Beach

Yellow Cards

M.Smith (Devonshire Cougars)

Man-of-the-match

R.Bean (North Village)

Referee

A.Mauchette