By David Nagel
Beaconsfield will take on near-neighbor South Belgrave in a mouth-watering first semi-final clash after the Eagles notched up their maiden Eastern Division One finals win over Montrose on Sunday.
From the moment skipper Jake Bowd kicked the first of the afternoon – into a blustery and stiff breeze at Boronia – the Eagles always appeared to have the Demons measure; eventually prevailing 13.11(89) to 5.9(39) in a one-side elimination final.
Mick Fogarty’s men were never under the mental pressure normally associated with losing the toss on such a wind-assisted day; trailing by just one point at the first break after a brilliant late goal to Hayden Brough.
Brandon White and Kobe Shipp led a dour first-quarter defensive effort from the Eagles, who then capitalised with four unanswered goals in the second term.
Charlie Muley got the ball rolling with a great snap out of the ruck, before Myles Currie bounced one through after some great shepherding from Jafar Ocaa; who kicked the next to make it 20 points the difference.
Shipp then put the exclamation mark on a dominant first half for the Eagles; taking a strong intercept mark before putting the spinnaker up and launching a wind-assisted bomb from outside the 50-metre arc.
Leading by 27 points, only a rampaging third quarter by Montrose could force it back into the contest.
Fogarty took the guess work out of that equation by moving Bowd to a loose player in defence, and his combination with White ensured the Demons never gained a serious foothold.
Montrose only kicked two in the third term, with Bailey White and Corey Whitchell narrowing the gap to a manageable 16 points at the final change.
The Eagles midfield, led by Kade De La Rue, Damien Johnston, Sam Merrick and Hayden Brown ran over the top of the Demons in the last quarter, with Brough making life extremely difficult for Montrose with a clever goal after one minute of play.
Johnston then made it 26 points the difference, five minutes into the last, before Riley Hams gave the Demons hope with a goal-of-the-day contender.
But it was glimmer that would soon be snuffed, with Ocaa kicking the next two, before Currie, Bowd and De La Rue put the finishing touches on a very impressive performance.
Ocaa finished with three, and Bowd, Brough and Currie two each for the Eagles; who now confront the massive challenge of defeating South Belgrave.
They’ve played twice this year, with the Saints prevailing by 33 points in round four, and by a similar 32 points at Beaconsfield in round 13.
But the Eagles won’t be daunted by those stats, with Fogarty set to roll out a different-looking team to the one produced in round 13.
Missing that day were key players in Bowd, Brown, Currie, Johnston, Josh Mounter, Trent Stokoe and White; seven players that automatically fit into the Eagles’ top-22.
Tim Smith looms as the dangerman for the Eagles; having kicked seven goals against them in their two encounters this season, including five in round four.
Smith looked too big and strong on that occasion, and the Eagles’ back-six will need to be on their mettle.
The game kicks off at Tormore Reserve, Boronia, at 2.20pm on Sunday.
South Belgrave had nine more scoring shots against Mitcham in the qualifying final on Saturday, eventually going down 5.19(49) to 12.3(75).
Mitcham used the breeze well, leading by 35 points at the first break, before the Saints shot themselves in the foot in the second stanza.
They had nine scoring shots to three, but lost the quarter after kicking 0.9 to 3.0 for the term.
Jake Parente kicked six for Mitcham, while Cam Pirzas was also damaging with three.
Mitcham will now take on ladder-leading Park Orchards in Saturday’s second semi-final at Boronia; with the winner progressing straight through to grand final day.
ELIMINATION FINAL (4 V 5)
MONTROSE 2.2 2.3 4.5 5.9(39)
BEACONSFIELD 2.1 6.6 6.9 13.11(89)
Montrose Goals: Ty Galbraith, Riley Hams, Isaac Tanzimat, Corey Whitchell, Bailey White.
Best: Greg Lord, Charlie Rossetti, Benjamin Dessent, Bailey White, Luke Jenkins, Bradley Watson.
Beaconsfield Goals: Jafar Ocaa 3, Jake Bowd 2, Hayden Brough 2, Myles Currie 2, Kade De La Rue, Damien Johnston, Charlie Muley, Kobe Shipp. Best: Kobe Shipp, Brandon White, Kade De La Rue, Damien Johnston, Sam Merrick, Hayden Brown.
QUALIFYING FINAL (2 V 3)
SOUTH BELGRAVE 0.3 0.12 1.13 5.19(49)
MITCHAM 6.2 9.2 11.3 12.3(75)
South Belgrave Goals: Not Provided. Best: Not Provided.
Mitcham Goals: Jake Parente 6, Cameron Pirzas 3, Nathan Crampton, Joshua May, Jesse Uren. Best: Jesse Cherry, Jake Parente, Nicholas Hallo, Riley Nicholas, Nathan Crampton, Tom Lovell.
