A brave Dunolly Eagles went within 9 points of winning its first premiership in 40 years last Sunday in perfect conditions at Princes Park Maryborough.
Dunolly had a great start and took a 4 point lead into the opening break after goals to Craig Burn and James McNamee. The eagles settled well into the fast paced game and appeared to have cooler heads than their opponents from Newstead. Shannon Motlop played an inspirational game, was extremely creative in heavy traffic and continually set up his team mates all day. For this he was awarded the medal for Best player on the day, a great feat in a losing side.
Dunolly had several chances to consolidate its lead, but inaccurate kicking at goal made their task more difficult. The second term saw Jeremy sanders split the middle on the run from the pocket and Robbie Ahmat also goaled for us in that period. Lachlan Liddicoat was giving his all in the ruck and Magic Cunningham’s tackling pressure was yielding positive results for the team. Trevor Ronke, Matt Brady, Marty Kelly and Josh Sullivan were impressive down back, but the Steaders lifted to gain the upper hand late in the second term.
When despite a serious heel injury, James McNamee kicked an impressive long goal after the siren; Dunolly went into the main break with plenty of momentum. To this time Tom Stiles had been his usual courageous self and Dunolly had every reason to believe they could run right over their opponents in the last half.
The second half was a goal for goal affair with Newstead just getting their noses in front through their hard running and numbers at the contest. Dunolly battled hard right through to the end and finished with all of the momentum but alas the clock beat them to a famous victory. The club passes on its congratulations to the Newstead Football Club on a fantastic season and a deserved premiership.
The Dunolly football Club can hold their heads high with the way they have conducted themselves all year and with the gracious way they handled a difficult occasion on Sunday. The Football Club is full of quality people on and off the field and I am sure that I speak for the whole Dunolly football and Netball department as well as the wider Dunolly community when I pass on my sincere thanks for all the enjoyment and pride you have passed on to all Dunolly supporters throughout this season.
We hope that these quality people decide to continue with the Eagles next year and look forward to an even more successful year in 2010.
Grand Final Goals - J. McNamee, C. Burn, J. Sanders 2, S. Motlop, R. Ahmat, B. Perry, B. Schodde 1
Grand Final Best- S. Motlop, C. Burn, L. Liddicoat, L. Cunningham, L. Stewart, M. Kelly
Last Modified on 05/03/2010 23:39