Gallery | Shepparton Golf reasserts supremacy by claiming Allan Matheson Shield premiership

The blue met a whole lot of gold in Saturday’s Goulburn Valley Playing Area Allan Matheson Shield grand final meeting with Tallygaroopna, both sides boasting all the sorts of names you expect to see contesting silverware.

Brad Orr, Anthony Flapper and boss Kris Ferguson were right in the thick of it opposite Mark Ryan, Mitch Sidebottom and Guy Madigan, respectively.

Those three rinks appeared to set the stage for a barn-burning finish, but the battle between Brent Reiner and David Daws in the final rink was the reason that perhaps didn’t fully pan out.

The former Kyabram leader emphasised his class in a simply dazzling showing that left the Redlegs searching for answers.

Reiner’s rink was essentially the sole reason that every score update Tallygaroopna posted throughout the afternoon looked so similar — always a couple of decent ends away, but rarely closing most of the gap and incapable of drawing level.

It was an eye-catching blowaway performance, one that put a rather unfortunate exclamation point on a club campaign for Daws which, as the story must be told, did not bear anywhere near the type of fruit one would expect from the Redlegs skipper.

An emphatic 33-16 result was the first pencilled in on the day, with three serious tussles remaining as the premiers sought avenues to make up the difference.

Powerful forces in their own rights, Ryan and Sidebottom were able to dispel bits and pieces by eventually completing victories over Golf’s dynamic duo of Orr and Flapper.

The Golfers were simply able to grind out the final 10 ends despite the fluctuating margin, though, keeping things largely at arm’s length and ultimately taking the pennant home in a 14-85 to 4-76 victory.

“It’s an awesome feeling. The guys all played well today and I can’t be prouder of them,” Ferguson said post-match.

“Brent played well today and their whole rink did. They turned it around big time from two weeks ago and it was well done by them.

“We came to play and we knew what we had to do and we knew we had the artillery to do it.

“Our whole rink was down for a while, but we got things going well and it was a good effort all around.”

Bowls’ unique progression system means the next level of competition is never far away, though.

Golf has the weekend to soak in regaining its place at the top of the Matheson Shield mountain, but its forthcoming challenge is already waiting on Wednesday night in the form of Wunghnu.

Wunghnu will travel to Shepparton Golf Bowling Club for the Goulburn Murray Bowls Region premiers playoff after claiming the Murray Playing Area’s top gong at the expense of Numurkah Golf on Saturday.

Boasting the Cartwright clan among others, Ferguson and his crew will have to switch its focus soon — but in the meantime, appreciate the litmus test that Tallygaroopna brings.

“We’ll saddle up for Wunghnu and see what happens after that; that’ll be a challenge for us,” Ferguson said.

“We’ve had some good tussles with Tally over the year. They got us last year and we got them this year.

“Unless something big changes, it’ll continue to be a good rivalry in years to come, I think.”