The pauper is now the prince.
After 100 minutes of rugby, Maheno - with a superb try in the last 60 seconds of extra time - snatched a deserved 30-25 win over Old Boys in a thrilling Citizens Shield final at Whitestone Stadium in Oamaru before about 2500 vociferous supporters.
For the Maheno captain, No8 Hayden Tisdall, it was the result of two years of build-up.
"When we scored that last try it was just awesome. It was a long 100 minutes but we got there in the end.''
Maheno led 6-0 at halftime but Tisdall was not confident it would be enough.
"You can't shut Old Boys out. They always come back at you and as they proved in the second half they can score great tries from deep inside their half.
"We had a good chat at halftime with coaches Mark Wilson and Nic Anderson and instead of kicking as much we decided to our plan of running Old Boys wide and tire them out, and it worked.
"We've got a very young team. It's taken a couple of years or so to get confidence with each other and the ability to work off each other.''
Old Boys was chasing its sixth consecutive Citizens Shield. Captain Ralph Darling gave credit to the Maheno side.
"They just kept coming back at us. We'd break away and back they'd come again. They were very tidy around the their rucks and put a lot of pressure on our rucks as well.
"We tried our best but it just wasn't good enough. We just weren't accurate enough. You've got to take the chances when they are there but today we took some but we also left a few behind out there,'' Darling said.
"That was the difference. Maheno just kept coming back at us, especially whenever we got in front. They deserve it today. They were a little bit hungrier.''
The first 30 minutes were scoreless but 10 minutes from halftime, Maheno centre Craig Smith kicked the first of his five penalties.
He repeated the dose a minute from halftime to give his side a deserved 6-0 lead.
Two further Smith penalties put Maheno out to 12-0 13 minutes into the second half.
Old Boys roared back with tries to lock Lio Havili (62nd minute) and flanker Maene Mapusaga (70th) before Maheno first five-eighth Chris Jennings, from 30m out, kicked a drop goal to put his side back into a 15-10 lead.
But a minute before fulltime, loosehead prop Darling locked it up at 15-15 with an unconverted try.
A minute into extra time Old Boys left winger Una Ofa finished off a break down the left flank in typical Old Boys fashion to lead 20-15, then a Smith penalty for Maheno closed the gap to two points.
Replacement Old Boys forward Palavi Tahaafe extended his side's lead to seven points but back came Maheno, and centre Lachie Kingan broke the defence to score for Smith to convert and tie it up at 25-all.
In the last minute of extra time, Maheno broke the shackles.
Outstanding young flanker Marcus Balchin robbed Old Boys of the ball on the Maheno 10m line.
Half Robbie Smith moved the ball to his left, where Kingan found space to take play to the Old Boys 10m line, with the Old Boys cover defence straining to get across.
A timely pass by Kingan sent left winger Adam Johnson racing 40m down the sideline to dive over in a tackle.
Referee Nick Webster consulted the assistant referee, who confirmed the try.
Maheno ignored the conversion and celebrated.
- Terry O'Neill
Citizens Shield final
The scores
Maheno 30
Lachie Kingan, Adam Johnson tries; Craig Smith 5 pen, con; Chris Jennings dg
Old Boys 25
Maene Mapusaga, Ralph Darling, Una Ofa, Palavi Taahafe, Lio Havili tries
Halftime: 6-0
