Hensingham landed a trophy double when they beat Walney Central in the final of the BARLA Cumbria Cup.

But the new Cumbria Men’s League champions had to dig deep for their 22-20 victory.

They had trailed 12-8 at the break and, with just over a minute left, were still behind at 20-16.

It was second-row forward Gavin Maudling who scored a late try under the posts to level the scores.

Marc Bainbridge made no mistake with the conversion and Hensingham had won their first Cumbria Cup since the 2002/03 season.

Walney must be left wondering what they have to do to win this particular silverware as they have appeared in the final five times in the last six years and victory has eluded them every time.

The game had been switched at the last minute from Whitehaven’s Recreation Ground to the home of the Distington club and started in brilliant sunshine.

It took Hensingham just over a minute to get the first points on the board.

Following some flowing rugby the ball was moved along the line and eventually found Steven Smith out wide and he burrowed over the line for an unconverted try.

Walney had a chance on eight minutes to even things up. Following a nicely timed kick across the pitch, winger Adam Ford couldn’t quite keep hold of the ball and knocked on over the line.

However he made amends just a minute later when he made an excellent break up the left flank. While being tackled by Hensingham’s Jay Rossi, he managed to flip the ball out to Matty Elliot who grounded the ball for the try which Dave Nicholson converted.

On 16 minutes, Hensingham regained the lead through a well-worked try down the right hand side when the ball quickly changed direction and Jordan Thompson darted over for a well-taken try.

It was end-to-end stuff with some excellent rugby from both sides and crunching tackles.

Walney struck on 35 minutes when Adam Nicholson made a break, and with the Hensingham defenders all over the place, he raced over for a score out wide.

Just three minutes later, Hensingham were penalised for a high tackle and Walney’s Nicholson opted for an easy two points which gave the visitors a 12-8 half time lead.

With just three minutes gone in the second half, Hensingham evened the score through man of the match Josh Rogerson.

However, within five minutes Walney had regained the lead when Tom Heavyside crossed the whitewash, quickly followed by Harry Gee to give them an eight-point advantage.

With 15 minutes of the game remaining, Hensingham seemed to regain a new lease of life.

On 70 minutes reduced the deficit when Todd Woods scored an unconverted try.

With the clock ticking down, Walney must have tasted victory but in a dramatic finish Maudling scored under the posts and Bainbridge’s only goal of the game won the Cup.