It was the perfect season for St Mary’s, culminating their undefeated 2024 campaign with the Marbuilt Division 2 Under 19.5’s premiership after defeating South Morang by 31 points in the Grand Final at Preston City Oval.
In difficult conditions, the Burra kept the Lions goalless in the opening half to lead by 20 points at the main break. They were inaccurate in the third term, but still managed four goals, before navigating through the last quarter to prevail 8.11 (59) to 4.4 (28).
Ten years after the club’s last Under 19.5’s premiership in 2014, St Mary’s put together an excellent campaign, with only one of their 20 wins this year coming by single digits.
Zane Gibson took home best on ground honours after a brilliant effort in the front half and would cue his side’s premiership celebrations with a set shot conversion on the full-time siren.
He was one of two multiple goalkickers for the afternoon, while William Dean and Andre Gill-Haimowich also impressed in the Burra’s terrific outing.
Dean De Propertis was the standout on a tough day for the Lions, while Aaron Galileos was always involved in the action, and was one of his team’s four individual goalkickers.
Tough conditions saw a tight, contested game throughout the first term. The game was being played between the arcs with no side able to find the space needed to break the game open.
The Burra were the better of the two sides as the term went on but only slightly, however they did manage to get reward for effort, when Josh Allen converted his set shot at the 17-minute mark.
Leading by eight points at quarter time, St Mary’s were taken to task by the Lions, who started to improve their game throughout the second term.
It was led by Seyon Uruththiran, who took some great intercept marks in the defensive end, while his teammates in the backline often set up drives into the attacking half.
Despite aiming to get on top in the contest, South Morang were unable to get any meaningful looks at goal, and soon the Burra would make them pay.
In the space of five minutes, Harrison Karvellas would nail back-to-back set shot goals, erasing all the momentum the Lions built during the second term, and help St Mary’s lead by 20 points at half time.
The Lions’ best chance of victory would come at the start of the third term, when they were able to finally get their first goals on the board.
Both Aaron Galileos and Christian Mardini would convert set shot opportunities inside the first three minutes of the third quarter to suddenly reduce the deficit to eight points, however some ill-discipline brought the Burra back into the game, with Dean being the benefactory of a 50-metre penalty to draw the Grand Final back on the minor premiers’ terms.
From that point on, St Mary’s looked to be in complete control, however they struggled to take advantage of their ascendency initially when all they could muster was seven straight behinds.
A Chrstopher Stingas major saw the Lions get to within 15 points, as they looked to account for their opposition’s costly misses on goal, but the Burra composed themselves and booted three majors in three minutes on their way to a 27-point three quarter time advantage.
With heavy rain welcoming the teams at the start of the last quarter, the Lions’ hopes of an incredible comeback were fading fast. Neither side could barely get any clean possession, which suited the Burra in their attempts to run down the clock.
South Morang kicked three behinds in time on but weren’t able to cause a scare. Eventual best on ground medalist Zane Gibson would have the final say, kicking a goal on the full-time siren to secure the premiership win for St Mary’s.
