St Mary’s snares first NFNL Division 2 finals win despite Josh D’Intinosante blitz
Despite Josh D’Intinosante individual brilliance, St Mary’s has claimed its first NFNL Division 2 finals win in club history to move within a win of the grand final.
Northern
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St Mary’s broke new ground on Sunday, claiming its first NFNL Division 2 finals win.
The Burras outlasted South Morang by 21 points in a high-scoring, sudden-death semi-final at Epping Reserve.
Josh D’Intinosante’s individual brilliance wasn’t enough as, despite kicking seven goals, the Lions’ season ended in a 18.12 (120) to 15.9 (99) defeat.
St Mary’s will now face Diamond Creek in a preliminary final on Saturday.
Burras coach Fabian Carelli labelled his side “relentless”.
“It was a good day for the footy club, the 19s won in the morning, the twos didn’t quite get over the line and it was a great win in the seniors,” Carelli said.
“Coming off the back of the (qualifying final) loss to Eltham, it was all about getting up for the game and making sure mentally we were prepared.
“I said during the week this is a game we’re expected to win, even though our form hadn’t looked good in the last month, and we made it a theme.
“The boys handled the day superbly, from go to woe, our pressure was relentless.”
St Mary’s burst out of the blocks and a Rory Hanlon goal on the siren sent the Burras into quarter-time with a 21-point lead.
However, South Morang roared back into the contest in the second term, piling on six goals, including a Liam Jolly major on the half-time siren, to narrow the margin to a single point.
The Burras kicked away again with a five-goal third term and led by 19 points at the final change.
Carelli was concerned it might not be enough with the Lions to come home with the breeze and challenged his players to bring the pressure.
The responded with a brilliant six-goal quarter, matching South Morang.
“”We went into three-quarter-time with a 19-point lead thinking is it enough and I said to the boys we’ve got to be relentless with our pressure and running and they delivered,” Carelli said.
“To the boys’ credit our last quarter was huge, to kick six goals into the breeze was a pretty good way to finish.
Huon Macgibbon continued his outstanding form with a best-on-ground performance in the ruck, while Jeremiah Antypas booted four goals.
Hanlon, Joe Maggio, Kieran Abbott, Jack Bianchin and Tane Cotter also impressed.
“Huon was super in the ruck, his two finals games have been pretty big,” Carelli said.
“He helped us with centre clearances and stoppages, which we won on the day, and he basically played as a midfielder for us, connected through the middle and surged the ball forward for us.
“He’s been unbelievable considering he’d never played ruck before, he played key back last season but we threw the challenge to him in the practice games and he’s flourished ever since.
“Jeremiah has been huge as well, he’s close to 50 goals now.
“He’s a competitor, you get the ball within his vicinity he just competes – he’s either going to mark it or bring it to ground.
“For his size, he’s nearly the best ground-ball player I’ve seen for his height, he’s able to get to the next contest really quickly and if he can get it in his hands he can turn blokes inside out.”
D’Intinosante was the standout for South Morang, while Tye Hall, Deacon Kalpakis, Koby Davies and Bailey Clarke were strong.
After earning promotion, the Lions’ impressive return to Division 2 ends with an elimination final win and a talented young list that should only improve.
Carelli paid tribute to the Coburg VFL-listed forward but also his defender Jake Halewood.
“What a player he is, a super player, we gave the job to Jake Halewood,” Carelli said.
“Josh had kicked five to three-quarter-time so we moves him further up the ground and to Jake’s credit he went and kicked two goals in the last quarter off the wing.
“He didn’t let it get him down, he stayed composed and when we moved him up the ground he took his moments and finished strong for us.”
The Burras will now face minor premier Diamond Creek after it’s major semi-final loss to Eltham.
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Carelli’s men were handed a humbling 107-point thumping in the last meeting but now have nothing to lose.
“We’re four quarters away from playing in a grand final,” he said.
“If I said that to the guys at the start of the year they probably wouldn’t have believed it or anyone.
“We’re in it to win it, we’ve got nothing to lose, so we’ll go out and play our brand and see if we can stick with Diamo for long enough and put them under pressure to get that elusive win.”
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