Reigning premiers Kalangadoo had to dig deep and overcome a 26-point deficit to claim the 2023 A Grade premiership by a mere six points in the Mid South Eastern Football League grand final at Port MacDonnell on Saturday.

At one stage early in the second term, Hatherleigh were more than four goals ahead and had restricted its opponent to just one six-pointer.

With best-on-ground and Stan Jones Memorial Medallist Mitch Lowe in great touch, the black-and-whites rebounded well.

They regained the lead, lost it again and were ultimately six points clear when the final siren rang at 4.45pm on Saturday.

The ball was on Hatherleigh’s half-forward line and the supporters were calling for a free kick for Tom Hutchesson.

No such free was paid.

As a result, the Wilf Sprengel Premiership Shield is returning to “Pie Park” for at least another12 months.

It was the 13th flag for the Magpies and their third success from four consecutive appearances in a season decider.

Field umpires Neil Webber, debutante Adam Gilbert and Travis Lockwood made many sound decisions including giving the best afield trophy to the Kalangadoo skipper.

It was a fitting conclusion to the team which had been in good touch all year and was recovering from the departure of almost half of its 2022 premiership team.

Kalangadoo came into the game with an unchanged line-up of 22 while Hatherleigh made one change.

Ex-skipper Jason Bateman was injured mid-week and Paddy Chay was recalled after passing a fitness test.

As expected, Hatherleigh coach Gerard McGrath took his place in the starting 18 despite wrenching his knee in the preliminary final.

Eagles skipper Will Chay won the toss and elected to kick to the western (Dingley Dell) end of the oval which was favoured by a two-goal breeze.

After six defensive minutes, Ben Gregory brought up the first goal of the grand final with a “lucky” soccer off-the-ground.

Another defensive period followed before Hatherleigh hit a purple patch and rattled on four goals in almost even time.

At quarter time the lead to the Eagles was a handy 20 points and it became 26 soon after the resumption of play in the second term with a six-pointer from Tom Hutchesson.

The match had reached a critical stage when Hatherleigh ruckman Darcy Bateman was allegedly involved in a contest with his Kalangadoo opponent Jack Casey.

It was deemed to be rough play and Bateman was issued with a yellow card and sidelined for 15 minutes.

The resultant yellow card, free, 50 metre penalty and goal allowed Kalangadoo to get closer on the scoreboard and Hatherleigh found it hard to find a way to cover the absence of Bateman for15 minutes.

The Magpies booted two other goals from free kicks and took a six-point lead into the long break.

The Eagles dominated the third term with goals to Brad Mitchell, Hutchesson and Will Chay while the reigning premiers managed just two behinds.

Hatherleigh went to three-quarter time with a handy lead of 11 points but the strengthening breeze would be favouring Kalangadoo.

In no time at all, the Magpies unleashed a match-winning burst of four goals in as many minutes.

It was like the second term avalanche of goals.

Two came from Dylan Bromley and one apiece from Jack Casey and Scott Agnew.

Hatherleigh counter-attacked with goals to Paddy Chay and Sam Telfer.

Only a handful of points separated the sides in the last eight minutes of play but the Eagles could not get another elusive six-pointer.

The siren then sounded to the delight of the black-and-white army.

In his post-match speech, first-year Kalangadoo playing coach Al Lyon congratulated his team on its success and described them as ‘‘immortals”.

Lyon said it had been a fantastic game and he commended Hatherleigh coach Gerard McGrath for his excellent coaching.

He also praised the MSEFL and pointed to the number of young people at the ground.

“The Mid SE is alive and it is a strong and healthy competition,” the 37-year-old said.

The Magpie victory meant Dylan Bromley has set a record of having played in four premiership sides at four different SE clubs – Kalangadoo, Port MacDonnell, West Gambier and Millicent.

The 2023 grand final was only the second time the Eagles and the Magpies had met in a season decider with the first occasion being 2022.

Played beneath blue skies, Saturday’s crowd paid $40,970 at the gate and this was well above the league record.

There was an obvious increase in gate takings on account of the decisions of the Western Border and Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara leagues to stage their grand finals the previous weekend.

Among the crowd at Port MacDonnell was former Glencoe Football Club president and multiple premiership player Max Childs.

The 88-year-old has seen every MSEFL premiership since 1947.

Despite signalling that a compulsory merging of the MSEFL and Western Border could take place, there were no representatives of either the SA Community Football Board or the South Australian Football Commission in attendance.

Port MacDonnell had all catering and staging requirements well in hand while Nangwarry footballers and netballers manned the gates.

The outer bar was reopened to cope with the crowd and it is affectionately known as “Bay 13” in deference to an infamous viewing area at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Elite Turf Pty Ltd prepared a tip-top playing surface and perhaps the best-ever seen at the Bay.

Motorists returning to Mount Gambier after the game were breath-tested by police at a mobile station in the Allendale East township.