Gallery | Old Students complete perfect season with clinical grand final victory over Notre Dame-St Brendan’s

Coming together for their last summer of junior cricket, the squad was hell-bent on creating a final magic memory to take into its career as senior players.

Led by inspirational skipper Sam O’Brien and some of the region’s top talents in Ashton Young, Oscar Lambourn and Andre Gagliardi — the boys from Kialla Park got to work and produced a home and away season for the ages.

Winning all four of their starts, Students came into the finals as the team to beat and romped their way into the decider with a thumping 214-run semi-final win over Mooroopna.

This set the scene for one last hoorah, fittingly against the same Notre Dame-St Brendan’s side that knocked them off in the under-14A decider two years ago.

With 45 overs of hard-fought cricket separating the boys from that elusive fairytale finish, they had one last masterpiece in them, with a complete team performance resulting in a memorable 51-run victory over the Tigers.

From Lambourn’s incredible six-wicket haul, giving him man of the match honours, to O’Brien’s gritty captain’s knock at the top of the order — the game was one filled with wonderful highlights for all involved with Old Students.

And for coach Vince Gagliardi — a long-term mentor of this group — the range of emotions that took over once his boys claimed the final wicket was a tough one to describe.

“I thought it was a great game, we were made to earn it all the way through with both bat and ball which was a great experience for the boys — they were made to play some very smart cricket,” Gagliardi said.

“A lot has gone in to getting to this point, these boys have played together from the ages of six and seven, so this season is really a combination of the past nine.

“When that final wicket went down and we had won, the feeling was hard to describe, these boys worked so hard to finish on this note, so to see them pull it off there aren’t many better feelings as a coach.”

When it came to the story of the match, the tale began with Old Students winning the toss and deciding to bat first in beautiful conditions at their Kialla Park home.

In the early stages, it was none other than the skipper O’Brien who set the tone, as he showcased his trademark confidence to make a classy 40 to set things up.

The class of Young then took over for Students, as the competition’s premier player showed the full-range of his capabilities with a blistering 32.

Despite these two timely knocks, the minor premiers did not have it all their own way, as Notre young guns Nathan Ferrier (2-29) and Sam Holland (2-31) wrestled back momentum to have the game evenly poised at 6-111.

But as they had done all season, Students found a way out of trouble, with handy lower-order contributions from Zac Bathman (29) and Darby O’Brien (24) lifting them to 8-175.

“Sammy’s (O’Brien) intent from the start was great, it was hard to bat on early and he probably fared the best of any player on the day, it was a real captain’s knock” Gagliardi said of his team’s batting effort.

“And then that partnership towards the end between Zac (Bathman) and Darby (O’Brien) really ensured we were in a good position at the halfway point.”

With half the job done, it was now up to the bowlers to complete the Students’ masterpiece.

And how fitting that Lambourn would be the one to put on the finishing touches, with his seven-over spell of 6-18 keeping the class of the Notre batters at bay.

Gemma Boyd tried her best to bring the Tigers back into the game, with the young prodigy notching a gritty 21.

But in the end Students were not to be denied, with the run out of Rayyan Mirza in the 44th over serving as the crowning moment for this champion side.

Gagliardi said he was excited to see the boys move into the rigours of senior cricket and carry the club to years of success at A-grade level.

“Three of our boys went into A-grade this year, but I think if you fast forward three or four years you will see seven or eight of these boys in that team,” he said.

“Old Students is a very special place to be at the moment with these kids around and if they stick together success will not be far away.”