'The cup is for them': Grand final hero praises tireless club volunteers

This analogy rings true when it comes to Allansford-Panmure's Paddy Mahony and his performance across the two days of the Warrnambool and District Cricket Association division one grand final at Reid Oval against Nestles.

The much-loved Gator was bestowed with the honour of player of the match in the club's first division one premiership in more than a decade for his classy 33 with the bat, coming in at a crucial time to help set up the team towards setting the Factory 205 for victory.

But his exploits in the field in crunch moments will go down in folklore, reeling off one of the great catches to remove danger man Jacob Hetherington, who loomed as the match winner once again.

It will go down as a catch in the scoreboard, but much more than that to those lucky enough to witness it.

With two medals draped across his neck after the game, Mahony told The Standard he felt privileged to win the award but admitted there was a tinge of "luck" involved to win the award.

"A bit of luck to be honest, there was probably four or five on my team that could have won it and a few on the other team as well," he said.

"(Michael) Harricks got 50 and 'Chook' (Jacob Hetherington) had a really good game as well so it was a raffle in the end.

"That's probably the thing about our team, we don't have a standout player, we had a top-score of 40-odd and everyone contributed evenly. More importantly we came out on top."

Mahony said his astonishing catch was one of those moments which just stuck.

"You want to take every catch that comes your way but there was a bit of luck involved. It sort of went over my head a little bit and I had 'Boydy' in my ear telling me I'd get it and it stuck," he said.

"It turned out to be an important wicket but ultimately it came down to our bowlers, they put the pressure on so they deserve the credit."

He said while the players were the ones to reap the rewards and earn a premiership medallion, the premiership cup was a culmination of its dedicated volunteer basis which propels up the close-knit club.

"I'm biased but we've got the best volunteers going around I reckon," he said.

"We've got five senior teams, couldn't count the junior teams and a couple of women's teams and to run the club the way they do is amazing.

"The volunteers put in so much hard work. I won't single anyone out but they are the ones that deserve to drink out of the cup and really enjoy it.

"We're just the players that get the rewards but the cup is for them at the end of the day."

Mahony said the group took plenty of confidence out of a strong semi-final win and backed themselves in to defend the target despite the fight of Nestles.

"We put ourselves in a really good position by qualifying on top and you get the first week off and put in a good semi-final but we knew Nestles were going to be a hard team to beat," he said.

"Winning by 70 runs kind of looks like we did it easy but it certainly wasn't. Nestles kept coming all day but we just went to work like we have all year.

"Early on (on day one), over 200 was on and then we were suddenly 4-70 at one stage and then got a few partnerships going.

"We knew we had to bat the 80 and if you do that you give yourself a really good chance. Getting 200 in the end was a bonus and then our bowlers got to work."