Holy Family were competing against boys teams from The Assumption School, Cathedral Catholic Primary School, Oberon Public School and St Philomena's School's two teams - Tigers and Cats, with the latter being a non-competitive team.

The boys from Kelso would win the tournament by topping the group, finishing ahead of Tigers on for and against.

In the girls category, Holy Family went up against The Assumption School, Cathedral Catholic Primary School and St Philomena's School, with Holy Family defeating Assumption in the final 1-2-8 to 1-1-7.

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AFL Central West development coordinator Casey White said the winners now progress to a regional carnival on Wednesday.

"The winners of the Dubbo and Bathurst carnivals will join up with the rest of the region, where we've got schools from Cowra, Forbes and Orange, for our regional final on Wednesday," he said.

"Winning the Central West regional final sends them off to Blacktown International Sports Park in the mid-stages of term two, which gives schools plenty of time to train up and get ready for those finals, which gives an opportunity for the state final, which will be at either Giants Stadium or the SCG."

The Paul Kelly Cup is the largest Aussie rules primary school competition in NSW and the ACT, open to students in year five and six.

"There's modified rules and a modified field," White explained.

"We've got a rectangular field, with our two forward zones for the players. 100 metres long and 50 metres wide, so it gives them some familiarity to other sports they've played but with that AFL touch.

"It's a state-wide AFL competition. We're running three gala days this year, so we had one in Dubbo, which was great, having nine schools competing and 18 teams. It was a fantastic day out."

Holy Family principal Kevin Arrow is hoping his school can continue its recent success it has enjoyed at the Paul Kelly Cup.

"Students at Holy Family are really keen to participate in the regional AFL finals in Orange," he said.

"Following 2020, when virtually all extra curricular activities were put on hold, we now look forward to gradually opening up activities for the students.

"AFL is first on the list. A few years ago our girls AFL team won the state wide Paul Kelly Cup after playing the finals at the SCG."

In 2017, Holy Family came up short in the final of the Paul Kelly Cup, going down to Wallsend South Public from Newcastle, after playing schools from Leeton, Wollongong and Canberra.

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