More than two decades of waiting were ended by the Navy’s hockey squad in six punishing hours as it clinched the coveted Inter-Services title.

Not since 1980 has a sailor held the hockey trophy aloft – and 2004’s victory was done in particular style on home ground at Burnaby Road in Portsmouth.

The contest was shaken up this year into a new format.

The two visiting sides met on day one, before the hosts took on the losers the following morning.

In the afternoon the first-day victors met the Navy – leaving a break of just three and a half hours between matches for the Senior Service.

Soldiers and airmen warned the sailors that they would “hit a brick wall in the second match”.

But it was the RAF and Army – particularly the latter – who were struggling after a gruelling 1-1 draw, decided in the RAF’s favour ultimately on penalty strokes.

The soldiers stepped out on to the pitch on Day Two and received their biggest drubbing, losing 6-1 and thereby beating the previous record defeat at the hands of the Navy, 5-1, set in 1910.

Mne Matthew McInally scored a hat-trick, captain Jim Mosely added a brace and Danny Makaruk of HMS Southampton completed the rout.

Within four hours, the Navy side was back out on the pitch to face the RAF.

The hosts started brightly, and Jim Moseley opened the scoring with a well-taken penalty, but the Navy were pegged back by airman Neil Powell.

With a draw looking increasingly likely and with just 10 minutes left on the clock Mne McInally popped up to score his fourth goal of the day to seal a 2-1 victory.

To put the success in context, the RN has only taken the hockey title seven times previously – and five of those were prior to 1930.

Among the crowd on this historic day was Capt Nick Batho, recently retired as chairman of the RN Hockey Association; 32 years earlier as a sub lieutenant he scored three goals as the RN clinched the title for the first time since 1928.

“This win has been a long time coming – 24 long years” said RN hockey secretary Lt Cdr Alan Walker, who has been in post since 1983.

“After 24 years it took just six hours.

“Indications of a possible Navy revival had been slowly coming through with the emergence of burgeoning talent from the U23 age groups.”