Marconi brilliance: Stallions shock premiers to claim NPL NSW title, end decade-long drought
Marconi Stallions have ended a decade-long title drought, upsetting NPL premiers Rockdale Ilinden to claim the 2024 championship after a thrilling grand final blitz.
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Marconi Stallions claimed their first NPL NSW title in over a decade after a comfortable 3-0 grand final win over 2024 premiers Rockdale Ilinden in front of a lively CommBank Stadium.
Although it took until the second half for James Temelkovski to open the scoring f0r the Stallions but from there they couldn’t be stopped, with skipper Marko Jesic and substitute Milislav Popovic adding insult to injury and securing the 3-0 scoreline.
It was a shock result for Ilinden, who claimed the premiership with a seven-point buffer over Marconi and had runaway golden boot winner Alec Urosevski leading the charge.
The tension was palpable from kick-off and didn’t take too long to boil over, with a hard challenge from Jesic on Rockdale’s Blake Ricciuto sparking some pushing and shoving between the two sides not even 10 minutes in.
Rockdale were doing what they do best in the first half, trying to feed the ball into Urosevski to follow through, but the Stallions knew this play and shut it down quickly.
It was star signing Temelkovski who finally broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time, staying just onside for Franco Maya’s delivery to head it into the back of the net and celebrating in the faces of the Rockdale support.
The Stallions looked to extend their league, coming out firing after the break and settling into a offense-heavy game and restricting Rockdale’s attack.
Ricciuto was once again in the middle of a scuffle, with a hard challenge on Rockdale keeper James Hilton, igniting an irate Nathan Millgate and earning both players yellow cards.
The premiers failed to create any real opportunities through much of the second half and were notably on the backfoot, and Marconi capitalised.
Dominic Costanzo sent a belter straight at Ilinden goalie Nicholas Sorras who could only deflect it away from goal, before skipper Jesic jumped on the ball and sent it into the net.
With their hopes of a championship all but extinguished, the Stallions added on the pain to the Premiers as Popovic added the third and final goal.
It’s the first championship for Marconi’s Stallions in 12 years and is a massive boost for the club ahead of joining the National Second Tier competition, set to launch next year.
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Originally published as Marconi brilliance: Stallions shock premiers to claim NPL NSW title, end decade-long drought
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