A furious flurry of goals at the start of the last quarter won
Northern Saints the Essendon District Football League division 1 grand
final by 14 points against Glenroy on Sunday.
Three quick goals in seven minutes broke open the match as the
Saints won promotion to EDFL premier division with the 13.23 (101) to
13.9 (87) win at Windy Hill.
PICTURE GALLERY: Northern Saints v Glenroy grand final
The Saints led by 24 points in the last quarter before a pair of quick Glenroy goals made for a nervous finish in time-on.
But Glenroy’s desperate forays into attacking 50 metres were repelled to protect the Saints’ lead and ensure victory.
The inaccurate Saints had threatened to break the game open
earlier but Glenroy’s spirited resistence was enough to keep the game
close for three quarters.
Scores were level and Glenroy appeared to be on the march 23
minutes into the third term when Travis Dulic’s 50-metre shot for goal
bounced through to give the Roys two goals in the space of a minute.
But a steadying goal moments before three-quarter time, a soccer
kick off the ground from Michael Cassinides, was enough to have the
Saints up by seven at the last change.
Rocky Ferraro’s roving goal seconds into the last was then
followed by a running goal for Mohammed Taleb and a big pack mark and
set shot for Ali Abou-Eid as the margin blew out to 26 points.
Glenroy’s boisterous pocket of fans was left silenced as the
Northern Saints contingent cheered on the club’s first premiership in
its history since the merger of Fawkner Park and North Coburg in 2007.
Earlier, Glenroy and Northern Saints exchanged first-quarter goals
before Eliot Kako and playing coach Nat Caruso stepped up with
consecutive goals to open a 19-point lead.
Glenroy spent much of the second quarter trying to keep the Saints
at bay, with the margin getting no greater than 18 points mainly thanks
to the dogged defence of Adam Sayers and Brenton Faulkner.
Aaron Kite kicked five goals for Glenroy to three-quarter time
while Abou-Eid was inaccurate, but still returned four goals to lead the
Northern Saints.
Hutchison medallist Fort Caruso, ruckman Taleb and mercurial forward Ferraro were among the Saints’ best.
