Wigan win on grand stage

Sean O'Loughlin hailed "a fantastic effort" as the Wigan Warriors beat St Helens to win the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford.

Martin Gleeson escapes the tackle of Paul Wellens, the St Helens full-back, to open the scoring for Wigan at Old Trafford.

O'Loughlin said after the 22-10 success, which ended a 12-year wait for a Grand Final triumph: "This is the best feeling I've had - it's been a fantastic effort this year, a massive achievement. We got points on the board and built pressure and worked hard. We knew they [St Helens] can score tries but we've backed ourselves all year and we showed it tonight."

Andy Coley, his teammate, added on Sky Sports 2: "It's immense ... It means everything to us and the people of Wigan. It's been a fairy-tale story and a great year." The Warriors did not look back after former Saints centre Martin Gleeson, whose time at Knowsley Road was marred by his involvement in the infamous betting scandal of 2004, scored two tries in the first 15 minutes to give his side the upper hand they never looked like relinquishing.

Thomas Leuluai, the New Zealand scrum-half, and lively full-back Sam Tomkins were the architects of an impressive win which was achieved largely without newly-crowned Man of Steel Pat Richards, who hobbled off with an ankle injury three minutes before half time. In addition to scoring four tries to two, Wigan had two others disallowed and, in the absence of their ace marksman, missed three kicks at goal.

Not that that will worry the Wigan fans who included Ryan Giggs after he chose to watch last night's climax to the domestic rugby league season instead of Manchester United's match at Sunderland. While Wigan were able to celebrate their first Grand Final triumph since 1998 - and their first major silverware for eight years - in the first season under Australian coach Michael Maguire, St Helens were left distraught after suffering a fourth successive defeat on the sport's biggest stage.

A hat-trick of losses at the hands of Leeds Rhinos was bad enough but this emphatic defeat by their most bitter rivals will be particularly hard to stomach. It meant a sad end to the distinguished career of Keiron Cunningham, the Saints captain, who hung up his boots at the end of his 496th appearance, while Bradford Bulls-bound Mick Potter became the first St Helens coach of the Super League era not to win a trophy.

Cunningham went off midway through the first half with his side trailing 16-0 and he was powerless to turn the tide when he returned after the break. The early damage was done by Gleeson, a tryscorer for St Helens in their 2002 Grand Final win over Bradford, who was on the end of a move involving Leuluai and Tomkins to open the scoring after only three minutes. He added a second 12 minutes later. It got even better for the Warriors when winger Darrell Goulding went over for his 28th try of the season.

Saints pulled a try back on 27 minutes through a Jon Wilkin try and Jamie Foster's goal made it 16-6 by half time but did little to change the momentum of the match. There was no way back for Potter's men when Tomkins went on another dangerous run and stretched out of Chris Flannery's tackle to score Wigan's fourth try. Leuluai, the man of the match said: "We've been through the highs and lows but we play team football. I don't know what else to say - it's awesome."

* Press Association