Darley capped off a thrilling season with a fairytale finish in the Ballarat Football League grand final on Saturday.
The Devils dominated every aspect of their clash with North Ballarat City to be 61-point winners. Their name was engraved on the premiership cup for the first time in 20 years.
While no one could split the two sides in the lead-up to the match, it didn’t take Darley long to assert its dominance on the contest.
After a tough first quarter, Darley took control in the second term, with Matthew Inglis booting the opening two goals.
Holding the advantage on the scoreboard served only to fire up the Devils even more, and they ensured there would be no relaxing the pressure as half-time approached.
With the back six controlling proceedings, Darley added one more goal through Dane Grenfell to extend the margin to 21 points at the main break.
The Devils stepped up the dominance at both ends in the second half and, for the second time in the match, North Ballarat City was goalless for a quarter while the Devils slammed on another three majors.
From there, the last 30 minutes was party time for the Darley players, supporters and coaching staff.
Richard Knight, Leigh Spiteri, Shane O’Bree and Ryan Closter hit the scoreboard in the final term to seal the 11.18 (84)-3.5 (23) win.
Devils coach Jarrod Edwards spoke to
Star Weekly as celebrations were in full swing at the club on Saturday night.
“The boys are up and about, that’s for sure,” he said. “It really is an incredible feeling. We just came out and we were ‘on’. Everything fell our way.
“I was a little concerned with our goal kicking in the first quarter – 1.8 – but once we got that sorted, it was all good. The pressure from the boys in the second and third quarters was great and I’m just so proud of this group.”
Nathan Lyons capped off his outstanding season for Darley in the best possible fashion, winning best-on-ground honours.
Lyons booted a goal and was instrumental in applying pressure on some of City’s key players. He was well supported by Anthony Chiu, while up forward Grenfell kicked four goals and Inglis two.
“Nathan really deserved the medal today; he was fantastic,” Edwards said.
“Anthony was great and my brother, Jake, was awesome, too.
“It’s a special feeling to play in a premiership with my brother. It’s something I’ll remember forever.”
On what was a tough day for North Ballarat, Simon McCartin and Sam Willian were named among City’s best players.
“This is huge for the club,” Edwards said. “[A premiership] has been a long time coming and we’re really enjoying it.
“People love this club. We had between 200 and 300 people at training during the week. You can’t move around the clubrooms at the moment, there are people everywhere. We’ll be celebrating for a while yet.”
