Gallery | Mooroopna battles Kyabram under lights in Goulburn Valley League elimination final

A large contingent of parochial Kyabram and Mooroopna supporters packed the stands for this evenly poised clash.

The match started as you would expect any final to — high pressure, physical and filled with passion from both sides.

Kyabram kicked the first goal thanks to star veteran Brad Mangan, who took a strong contested mark and kicked truly two minutes into the match.

Mooroopna soon returned fire thanks to Kyabram-born Coby McCarthy, who kicked a crumbing goal to the raptures of the Cats faithful.

While the game was congested early in the term, as the quarter wore on, the Cats were able to use their speed and handball chains effectively while moving the ball from defence to attack.

Goals to Jed Woods and Daniel Johnston had the Cats leading 20-7 late in the first.

A running goal from Kyabram’s Kaine Herbert reignited the Bombers before star forward Anthony Depasquale marked and kicked a goal on the quarter-time siren to cut the margin back to one point.

The first half of the second term was an arm wrestle, with neither side converting until Kyabram’s Liam Dillon kicked truly halfway through the quarter.

Mooroopna had the dominance early, but failed to make the most of it, kicking five straight behinds before ruck Keelin Betson kicked the Cats’ first late in the half.

The second term also had animosity rise between the two sides, with old-fashioned biff and wrestling breaking out in four or five spot fires throughout a 15-minute patch.

Kyabram’s Josh Dillon received a yellow card after a bump in congestion had Mooroopna’s Oscar Emanuelli taken from the ground.

The 16-year-old Cat missed the rest of the match as a precaution following a head knock.

The Bombers took a one-point lead into half-time (31-32).

Despite an early goal to Depasquale in the third term, Mooroopna soon seized control of the match as the Cats made their move.

Mooroopna kicked five straight goals to push the lead out to 21 points at the final change of ends.

In the three-quarter time huddle, John Lamont implored his troops to bury the Bombers in the final 30 minutes of play.

However, Kyabram came firing out of the gate in the fourth quarter.

Led by key forward Mangan (four goals), who took a couple of strong contested grabs in the goalsquare, the Bombers cut the margin to three points with roughly 10 minutes left.

It seemed the Cats had run out of gas and it appeared inevitable that the Bombers would run over them in the dying stages.

Some supporters in the crowd couldn’t bear to watch, so they looked the other way and gauged what was happening from the vocal crowd’s reaction.

The roller-coaster of emotions continued with a snapping Cats’ shot rocketing into the behind post.

A minute later, the Bombers nearly kicked the go-ahead goal, but the shot clipped the bottom of the post.

A deep entry inside Mooroopna’s forward 50 resulted in a snapping goal to Logan Campbell, taking the score to 71-64.

The siren sounded soon after and the Mooroopna supporters erupted, with the Cats advancing to this weekend’s semi-final clash against Shepparton.

Lamont said he was proud of his players’ resolve late in the contest.

“To hang on, we showed good courage with everyone’s heart in their mouth,” Lamont said.

“Ky hit the post, one point the difference, big crowd, a lot of noise, you can’t buy that at Woolworths.

“You have got to get through that as young players and, to win a final like that, get time to withstand momentum, it was really, really pleasing.”

While the Cats will enjoy this memorable at-home finals victory, Lamont said he would look to his on-field leaders to ensure the side was ready to front up again this weekend.

“I want them to feel the satisfaction of a great win,” he said.

“They have had a great year, got into a final and won it, so I want them to enjoy that.

“It’s just about making sure they understand that we don’t want to be on the dance floor until 5am, but we enjoy each other’s company and start our recovery well tomorrow morning.”

Mooroopna’s backline mix of Mac Calleja, Ben Hicks, Isaac Dowling and Bryce Rutherford — named best-on-ground for his side — produced strong performances.

Ruckman Betson and role players Campbell and Toby Williams also impressed.

Meanwhile, Lamont was pleased with how his star midfielder McCarthy was able to impact the match.

“He is a Kyabram boy, so he was targeted a bit,” he said.

“There would have been a fair bit of lip going on out there, but he is pretty good in that area and didn’t let it faze him — kicked a goal early.

“Very pleased with his game. Very.”

On the other side of the fence, the season is over for Kyabram after the tight seven-point loss.

Star midfielder Bailey Tome and gun defender Jason Morgan worked tirelessly for the Bombers throughout the night.

Player-coach Herbert said he was proud of how his teammates fought back in the final term.

“It is disappointing, but we were there for three quarters,” Herbert said.

“We probably played poor for a 10-minute patch and they kicked three or four goals and the guy got sent off — that probably won them the game.

“Credit to the boys; they kept fighting, fighting, fighting and we got back into the game at the end.

“We missed three or four goals, but that is footy.”