The long, agonising wait is over. After 32 years of sweating and trying.

Kingston College (KC) claimed their 15th hold on the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/Digicel Manning Cup title and first since 1986 when they clipped St George’s College 3-2, in a nail-biting final inside National Stadium yesterday.

The showpiece event, dubbed the Battle of North Street, proved to be just that as the Dragon Slayer and the brave Fortis Dog battled tooth and nail to the very end.

In the end it was the Dogs who failed to yield as they came from behind twice to walk away with the major prize.

Damani Harris, with his 15th goal of the season, put St George’s College in front with a 34th-minute strike, but substitute Trayvone Reid pulled Kingston College level in the 51st minute.

Super substitute Chantomoi Taylor again gave St George’s College the lead with a 71st-minute goal, but KC again found the equaliser through another substitute, Michael Allen, in the 86th minute.

However, Nathan Thomas found the clincher for KC in the 90th to end the lengthy drought.

This was the third meeting of the season between the neighbours, who drew 1-1 in the Roper Cup and 0-0 in the more serious Manning Cup during quarter-final stage.

It was a tentative start by both teams but St George’s College gradually gained the ascendancy as they showed more attacking intent and should have opened the scoring in the eighth minute from a break.

Jaheim Brown released the prolific Harris behind defenders but the striker dragged his hurried, left-footed effort wide.

That may have been the wake-up call KC needed, as they came to life soon after and orchestrated a few good scenarios but failed to really trouble the opponents’ defence.

A massive wave of purple went up in the Grandstand in anticipation of the go-ahead goal when a well-weighted cross from Aryamanya Rodgers found the head of Shaquille Smith, but the effort sailed way over the crossbar.

That was to be the theme right throughout the first half-hour as Kingston College edged closer with each attack, the best of which came in the 28th minute when Rodgers’ diving header from Oneeko Allen’s cross was blocked by a defender.

Two minutes later Smith played a killer through pass to Rodgers, who left the advancing custodian Orville Smikle for dead but fired miles wide of the empty net, sending shock waves through the Kingston College camp.

They were made to pay for the slip-up soon after, as Duvaughn Dunkley played Harris behind defenders and the latter made no mistake with an expert, left-footed drive along the ground into the far corner to put St George’s College 1-0 up at the break.

KC’s players may have fallen but they refused to yield, and as such pulled level when Reid — who was introduced at the half-time break — fired home a rebound six minutes in after Smikle coughed up a rebound from what should have been an easy save.

St George’s College’s fans may have had concerns at that point, especially with KC enjoying a sustained spell of pressure.

However, Taylor, like he has done all season, came in and gave the “Light Blues” hope when he headed home in the 71st minute.

From there it was dicey end to end action in the latter stages of the contest and Reid should have put KC back on level terms in the 85th, but hit his effort over the crossbar from a break.

A minute later Harris had a grand opportunity to push St George’s College further ahead and certainly wrap up the game for his team, but unbelievably hit his effort high from four yards, with the goalkeeper scrambling across to his far post.

As it was earlier with KC, the losers were made to feel the effects of that missed opportunity as Allen found the equaliser for KC immediately after from a rebound.

And KC found the winner for an unlikely source in “Kante”’ Thomas whose stinging, but wayward effort from a distance took a wicked deflection off a defender’s head and lodged in the top left-hand corner of the net on the stroke of full time to send the sea of purple into a frenzy.