The two sides were clearly evenly matched and fought hard for the right to be crowned Tahiti’s cup champions at the Stade Pater in Papeete in front of a boisterous crowd.
The ball did not find its way into the net at either end during a tense first half though and it wasn’t until over an hour had passed that the scorers were finally troubled.
Last season’s O-League representatives Tefana were awarded a free kick in the 62nd minute and Sébastien Labayen used it to slip a pass through to Tauraa Marmouyet. His cross found the head of Manutahi Teremate, who made no mistake to finish past Dragon goalkeeper Alexis Mauri.
The slender lead remained in tact for the next 20 minutes and Tefana must have thought they had just about done enough when the clock ticked past the 80-minute mark.
But Dragon weren’t about to give them a smooth passage into the French Cup and got themselves back into the game with just eight minutes remaining.
Joan Petillon sent over a dangerous cross from the right which Steevy Chong Hue latched onto and beat goalkeeper Stéphane Faatiarau to send the game into extra time.
Despite plenty of intent from both sides, there was no further score from either side in the added period and the result was left up to the footballing gods in the lottery of the shoot-out.
It was Tefana who emerged on the right side of the ledger after Axel Williams, Kenny Nui, Heimano Bourebare and Jean-Claude Chang Koei Chang all successfully converted their spot kicks.
Chong Hue stroked home a reply for Dragon but the damage had already been done after the efforts of Jérémy Dubois and Matatia Paama failed to find the net to give Tefana a 4-1 win.
Tefana will now go on to join their counterparts from New Caledonia in taking part in the prestigious Coupe de France, known more commonly around the world as the French Cup.
The competition is played out by club sides from France and the nation’s overseas territories and offers teams from Tahiti and New Caledonia the chance to test themselves against professional and semi-professional French sides.
Last season, New Caledonia club AS Magenta became the first side from the country to progress to the eighth round of the French Cup in 42 years but were beaten at that stage by third-tier side Paris FC.
Tahiti’s Dragon took part in the previous round after winning the 2010 Coupe de Tahiti Nui could not match Magenta’s feat and went down 4-0 against French side Poitiers.
Their successors Tefana will hope to go at least one better this season.