Caernarfon Town sealed a place in next season’s Europa Conference League with a dominant display against Penybont in Saturday’s Cymru Premier play-off final.
The home side romped into a 3-0 lead by half-time, with Louis Lloyd grabbing a 20th-minute opener as the winger took Darren Thomas’ fine through ball in his stride before chipping goalkeeper Adam Przybek.
Zack Clarke doubled the lead from the penalty spot six minutes later, after Billy Borge had brought down Lloyd.
Sion Bradley then dispossessed Mark Little to add a third, racing through on goal to slot through Przybek’s legs – sending the majority of a bumper 1,960-strong crowd at The Oval into rapture.
Penybont came close more than once in the second half, with Chris Venables seeing his header cleared off the line and Borge then heading against the crossbar.
In time added on, Ryan Reynolds finally broke through for Penybont with a spectacular left-foot curler into the top corner, but the goal came too late to change the result.
The visitors had been aiming to reach Europe for the second successive season, but instead Caernarfon can now look forward to making their debut in European competition.
Caernarfon will also pocket £150,000 for reaching Europe, a sum that before the game their manager Richard Davies said would “change the club forever”.
After the win, Davies said: “I’m ecstatic, it’s always been the dream, but we’ve always believed in it.
“The players have been outstanding this season – from nearly being relegated last season, for the lads buying into the culture of what we’re trying to create here and for what it means to play for Caernarfon Town, for the whole community.
“I’m just made up for everybody involved.”