KILMORE’s first season in the senior women’s competition has come to an end—but not without a fight in what was a thrilling preliminary final contest against Fitzroy Stars.
The Blues took the fight right up to the Stars throughout the afternoon at Tony Sheehan Oval in what was a much different contest to their qualifying final matchup two weeks earlier.
This time, Kilmore did not drop its heads when the Stars were on top and maintained a strong hold in the game.
The Stars did indeed get the jump on what was a changeable day of weather conditions but were only able to put one goal on the board thanks to Kilmore’s resolute defending and led 9-0 at the opening change.
In the second quarter, it was Kilmore’s turn to attack, and they were rewarded with a goal through Emma Pyle to close the gap to just one point at the main break, 9-8.
Kilmore hit the front briefly in the third quarter as it kicked the opening goal of the term, but Fitzroy Stars had an emphatic response, kicking the next three goals of the game to turn the tide its way, and give itself a 15-point lead at the final change, 29-14.
Despite that, Kilmore wasn’t done yet.
In a reversal of the qualifying final, where the Stars ran away with the game, Kilmore knuckled down and got itself back into the contest. A terrific goal from Jenaya Stewart was the result, before Brielle Kinnear reduced the margin to five points 14 minutes into the quarter.
With everything to play for, both teams threw everything at the cause, but it was Fitzroy who got the critical goal to put to bed any hopes of the Blues making Sunday’s grand final, and finished 12 points clear, 5.8 (38) to 4.2 (26).
Kilmore had great performers, with Naomi Whalan, Chloe D’Elia, Sienna Shinners, Kasey Marsden, Alexis Knight and Shazi Cappello all named in the best.
While the Blues’ incredible season has come to a close, they can look back on a terrific first campaign with plenty of pride, showing they can match it with the better teams in the Northern Football Netball League competition.
