Rooney, on as a substitute for the injured Michael Owen after being initially left on the bench, powered a magnificent header past Brad Friedel from 10 yards out to win it for the holders with just 16 minutes remaining.
That capped a fine comeback from the Barclays Premier League champions, who recovered from the shock of going behind inside five minutes to win 2-1.
James Milner scored from the spot after Nemanja Vidic hauled down Gabriel Agbonlahor inside the United box.
United were level after 13 minutes when Dimitar Berbatov dispossessed Richard Dunne before racing into the Villa box.
Dunne got back well to slide in and take the ball away from the Bulgarian, but only diverted it into the path of Owen, who fired home unerringly past Friedel.
early storm
Owen looked as sharp as he has all season in troubling the Villa defence constantly, but his afternoon ended early as he injured his hamstring running onto a Berbatov pass.
Rooney replaced him and United, after weathering that early storm, gradually turned the screw as they dominated possession.
The excellent Park Ji-Sung hit a post with a left-foot shot while Friedel produced an excellent save to deny Michael Carrick.
But United finally went ahead for the first time on 74 minutes as Rooney did brilliantly to get sufficient power to beat Friedel from Antonio Valencia’s right-wing cross.
It was almost 3-1 soon after as Rooney hit a post with another powerful header, and Villa almost levelled when a Stewart Downing cross flicked off the head of Vidic before bouncing off the United bar.
Villa threw Dunne forward in the closing minutes but he headed wide in a desperate finale as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side hung on to retain the trophy.
“Rooney powered a magnificent header past Brad Friedel ” .
Credits: PremierLeague.com
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