Cashmere were defensively excellent, scrapped for everything and bossed the midfield while Central too often relied on some magic from exceptional Auckland City striker Emiliano Tade.
Cashmere took the lead after five minutes, when Ivan Vicelich and Central keeper Blaz Bugarin got mixed up dealing with a long ball and Ash Wellbourne bundled the scraps home from close range.
Central struck back ten minutes later through Tade, who turned Cashmere defender Nick Wortelboer inside out before finishing a silky solo dribble by rifling the ball into the bottom corner.
Cashmere defender Dan Terris then headed home the winner from an Aaron Clapham corner, their 100th goal in all competitions, just before halftime.
Cashmere's creativity came from the middle of the park where veteran Stu Kelly, named the final's most valuable player, and All White Aaron Clapham dictated the pace of the game. The two midfielders were comfortable on the ball but also tenacious in defence and Kelly put in a number of telling tackles all over the park to disrupt Centrals' rhythm.
Clapham's reading of the game and set piece delivery was also top class and he may well have the best technique in New Zealand's domestic game.
Tade was often a one-man threat for Central. On a heavy, slippery pitch the Argentine striker was a yard quicker than anyone else and had the crowd of 2,761 excited every time he received the ball near the box.
But his effect on the game deteriorated as the match went on; perhaps a result of only returning on Thursday from a six week European holiday.
Cashmere opted for quite a direct approach, feeding off scraps, using their physical advantage and threatening from every set play while Central often attempted a more measured build up.
"It was a lot harder this year and we had a bit of a target on our back," said Cashmere coach John Brown.
"We knew Central were going to be a quality opposition and they were. In the second half we probably defended a little bit deep, but we defended really well.
"Aaron and Stu worked their socks off in midfield. We're a good team if we work hard. We've got the talent but we need the work rate first and today we got that, they were tremendous.
"They probably went against what I wanted at halftime. I didn't want to sit back, I wanted us to sneak a third to kill the game off, and we tried that in the first 20 minutes, but obviously as we got closer to the line it was about just closing it out."
Brown singled out goalkeeper Danny Knight as another of his best performers, pulling off a number of stunning late saves to preserve Cashmere's lead, including an athletic tip over the bar from a dipping 45 yard volley from Takuya Iwata with 15 minutes to go.
In the Women's Knockout Cup final Glenfield Rovers came back from a goal down to beat Forrest Hill Milford 3-2.
