Bonnie Doon have overcome a twenty-year drought to lift the Eric Apperly shield with four matches to two victory over a gallant ACT-Monaro outfit at Lynwood Country Club today.
In a keenly fought contest, the powerhouse side from Pagewood looked to be in control from the outset with their lower order players performing strongly.
Josh Bell And NSW boys team representative Jones Comerford grabbed healthy early leads and held on to record comfortable wins of 4&3 and 5&4 over their opponents James Correll and Adam Thorp.
Mitch Gannon, Bonnie Doon's captain, grabbed a 4&2 win over Robbie Furner to put the Sydney team within sight of their goal.
With things not looking good for the ACT team, they rallied. When Brett Levier grabbed a 2&1 win for the Canberra unit against Kurt Burns, they were on the board.
Then in a topsy-turvy contest, Josh Armstrong grabbed a vital second point for the team in the yellow shirts with a two up win over a plucky Jeremy Fuchs.
All eyes were then on the last match alive, which had gone to extra holes after the ACT's David Howard had managed to conjure up an escape from two down with two to play.
Howard's magical powers didn't extend far enough, however, and when his par putt on the 20th hole slid by, his opponent, Andrew Cinelli, had grabbed the vital fourth point and with it, the 2017 Eric Apperly shield for Bonnie Doon.
Blake Ballinger, Bonnie Doon's team manager, was ecstatic with the result.
"It's very special for us. Mitch (Gannon) was there five years ago when we lost to the Australian, so this win has been quite a while in the making."
"We broke a pennant drought two years ago, and now we've broken the Eric Apperly drought too."
The club is now looking forward with anticipation to the 2018 Metropolitan Major Pennant after a disappointing campaign this year.
"We got to debut a few players here that haven't played Major Pennant, so this will act as a bit of a stepping-stone into the team next year.
The boys will take a lot of confidence out of this win." Ballinger said.
As for the afternoon celebrations, Ballinger said the team was expecting a warm reception back at the club.
"Not everyone is 18, but we're going back to the club to celebrate with the members," he smiled.