Tough windy conditions for finals

The rain stayed away on Saturday but some finals games had to contend with tough, windy conditions and while it wasn’t so rough for the Sunday matches there were occasional showers at the venues.

Across the four district leagues Gippsland wound up its home and away season, Ellinbank and district began its finals series while West Gippsland and Mid Gippsland staged the second weeks of their play-offs.

Wind was a huge factor in the important Longwarry versus Poowong qualifying final in the EDFL played at Catani on Saturday.

So much so that it forced the game to be played almost entirely at one end of the ground.

The teams did manage to post a combined score of 22 goals and 21 behinds but of that total only two behinds were scored at the northern end of the ground.

Longwarry scraped through by one point, 1111 to 11-10, to earn a crack at Ellinbank in next Saturday’s second semi-final.

Ridiculous as it might seem the two points Longwarry scored in the third quarter against the gale proved match-winners.

Neerim Neerim South that was far too good for Nyora in the elimination final, 15-6 to 611, will confront Poowong in Sunday’s first semi-final.

It was also tough going on Saturday in the wind at Bass where Phillip Island accounted for Tooradin in the West Gippsland second semi-final and booked its grand final spot on Saturday week.

Tooradin managed only one behind to one end of the ground in its 5-5 total, the Islanders getting home comfortably at the finish by 24 points, 7-16 to 5-4.

Cora Lynn showed some top team qualities with its surprisingly easy first semi-final defeat of Koo wee rup on Sunday, 17-19 to 9-7, its sixgoal lead by quarter time an early sign of what was ahead.

The Cobras will now take on Tooradin to determine which will have a crack at hot favourite Phillip Island in the grand final.

In Mid Gippsland reality struck for glamour side Hill End in the second semi-final against Yallourn Yallourn North.

The Bombers, clear premiership favourites, took the game away from Hill End with a sixgoal second quarter.

The 31-point gap that opened was too much for Hill End to bridge although it was an even contest in the second half as Yallourn held firm to score 14-10 to 9-8.

The dream, however, is by no means over for Hill End.

It now has first semi-final winner Mirboo North to contend with in next Saturday’s preliminary final.

Four goals to one in the final term added a little respectability to Morwell East’s scoreline against Mirboo North on Sunday and brought the margin back to 25 points – 11-8 to 7-7 – after it had been 44 points at three-quarter time.

Main interest in Gippsland League’s last home and away round was whether there’d be any movement among the top four that affected double chances.

All four won their games to maintain the status quo but one point, the margin by Sale which beat Morwell on Saturday, was all that stopped Moe moving from fourth to third to gain the double chance.

Moe won at home against Warragul but had to work hard for its win that was only sealed in the final five or six minutes in another game where a strong wind had a major influence.

Top of the ladder Maffra also had a hard battle, Traralgon really challenging in the last quarter to get within seven points at the finish after the Eagles had led by two to three goals throughout.

The big head-turner was defending premier Leongatha that brushed aside the long drive to Bairnsdale to post a big win and make another statement that its title defence is well on track.

Fifth placed Drouin that will clash with Moe in the elimination final at Moe on Sunday lost its last pre-finals work-out at home against Wonthaggi.

The contest was tight for three quarters before Power broke it open with a dominant six-goal last term.