St Pat's defeat Parkes United in 2023 men's Central West Premier League Hockey grand final

Pat's and Parkes United each had a wealth of circle penetrations during their entertaining finale on Bob Roach Field - so much so that it was a shock to see the score stuck at nil-all heading into the last break of the game.

Finally, after nearly 50 minutes of waiting, the hosts put themselves ahead through a successful Lachlan Howard shot off a short corner.

The Saints then had to survive a late flurry of Parkes shots to secure their first title in four years.

The game's low scoreline disguises the fact there was a stack of offensive firepower on show throughout the game, and with nine penalty corners between the teams it took some clutch defensive efforts to keep the score so low.

St Pat's co-captain Riley Hanrahan said the quality of the game was second to none.

"I think the short corner defence and the goalkeeping from both teams was outstanding today. The short corners weren't terrible by any means - they were pretty much all shots on goal - there was great defence the whole game," he said.

"It's probably one of the best games of hockey I've been involved in during my time at Pat's.

"There were a lot of different structures out there and there was some classic country hockey out there, with some massive tackles for a clean ball. That was a great spectacle.

"As soon as we got that goal it's hard not to go into that defensive mindset. You look up and see there's still 10 minutes to go, and they continued to come at us right until the end."

Parkes captain Dan Wilson said he was proud of his team's performances over the past week of the finals series.

"It's been a long journey to get to a grand final for us. We've fallen at that prelim final stage for a number of years now, and we turned up today and gave it a really good crack," he said.

"Unfortunately, that's just the way the ball bounces sometimes. I think a lot of credit needs to go to both defences today. Both teams have been pretty resolute all season.

"We knew it was going to take a big defensive effort today. We both created opportunities but those efforts were enough to keep it to just 1-0."

St Pat's dominated the opening quarter of play and didn't allow Parkes too much time outside of their own half of the field.

Cody Sherman and Blake Davis each had blocked shots on target before Parkes began to enjoy some limited attacking opportunities towards the end of the period.

Early in the second quarter Hanrahan had the best opportunity to score in the game up to that point but was denied by the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation.

Parkes' Edward Murray created a strong chance on the counterattack before his side's first penalty corner of the game in the shadows of half-time missed the mark.

The third quarter was an electrifying end-to-end spectacle where at one point the two sides traded five penalty corners between them in the space of five minutes.

Somehow, despite all those short corners and scoring opportunities in open play to Murray and Brandon Lloyd, the scoreboard remained unchanged.

Another strong run and shot from Hanrahan early in the final quarter was pushed away but an opportunity presented itself when Parkes' Tom Searl was shown a yellow card.

On the ensuing penalty corner - the fifth of the game for St Pat's - Howard stepped up to flick the ball into the back of the net.

Pat's weren't able to sit back and take things easy once they gained the advantage, and for the remaining 10 minutes Parkes had the bigger share of possession as they searched for a breakthrough.

They couldn't get there, leaving the hosts to celebrate an eighth Premier League Hockey title.

ST PAT'S 1 (Lachlan Howard 49') defeated PARKES UNITED 0