Saints improved aesthetically but have not always gained consistent results after Danny Lennon brought in assistant Tommy Craig and changed his side's tactical philosophy in the summer of 2011, after beating Hamilton in a relegation battle in his first season in charge.
But the approach paid dividends in two 3-2 victories at Hampden as their positive attacking game saw them sweep aside Celtic in the semi-finals and then a Hearts team on Sunday who had stifled them early as they got the ball up to their physical strikeforce of John Sutton and Michael Ngoo.
Saints began dominating possession after Lennon moved Paul McGowan back to a deeper midfield position and the former Celtic player - who is in advanced talks over a new deal - showed the way St Mirren have been trying to play.
"We have been rewarded," Goodwin said. "We have always tried to play good, attractive football.
"We have made mistakes in the past that cost us. We have lost the ball close to the goal and the opponents have gone through and scored.
"We have been criticised in the past for doing it, but we showed in the semi-final against Celtic that we are good enough to play that way.
"We have got players who only know that way. If we start going long ball, then we are doing them an injustice.
"We train the way we play and I'm just delighted now that the boys have been rewarded."
Goodwin also felt the supporters had been rewarded for their backing as he savoured the post-match parade where an estimated 15,000 people packed the town centre to hail the club's first major trophy since 1987.
"There is a great community spirit within our club," the 31-year-old said. "The people behind the scenes don't get enough credit. They work ever so hard with the community and always try to involve the community, and have won awards for doing that.
"And it's only when you go out to meet the people of Paisley that you actually realise what this all means.
"I'm from Ireland, I didn't know an awful lot about the history before I came over, but they don't be long telling you.
"And 26 years was far too long to wait and I'm delighted we could do something about that."
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