St George’s held their nerve to clinch the Hospital Cup after a dramatic penalty shootout against St Mary’s on Friday evening.

Sixteen-year-old Lucas James proved to be the hero as he slotted home the decisive spotkick for Geordies under the floodlights at the Bowl.

On an emotional night at the national stadium, a minute’s silence was observed prior to kickoff as wreaths of flowers were laid in the centre circle in tribute to former Corinthians, St Mary’s, St John’s and Pulrose striker Stephen Glover who sadly passed away earlier in the week.

The game itself took a long time to get going, with St Mary’s losing influential playmaker Jack McVey early on to injury.

Geordies enjoyed the better of proceedings but it wasn’t until late in the second half when they made the breakthrough, young Jay Skelcher-Maxwell slamming home a sublime strike from 30 yards out in the 77th minute.

Then, with five minutes of normal time remaining, the Glencrutchery Road side appeared to put one hand on the trophy when Skelcher-Maxwell and Furo Davies combined to set up Chris Bass Jr to slot home a second goal.

But St Mary’s had other ideas and halved the deficit early in injury-time when Darren Hudgeon fired home from the spot after a penalty had been awarded.

Then, just when it seemed Geordies would see out the game, up popped big-game player Frank Jones to haunt his former club with a glancing header to send the final into extra-time.

There was nothing to separate the two sides in the additional 30 minutes, although only a superb last-ditch tackle from man of the match Sean Quaye and the underside of the crossbar prevented Jordan Cooper from grabbing a winner for St Mary’s in the final few seconds.

In the dreaded lottery of the penalty shootout, Quaye, Davies and Bass Jr all successfully converted from 12 yards, leaving it to substitute James to coolly fire past Kiril Velev to seal the silverware for St George’s.

Full report and photographs in Tuesday’s Isle of Man Examiner.