Saints bested Cavs by 23 runs on the weekend to deliver a premiership that Ryan said is the club's most important title in their history.

"It's a stronger comp with more teams vying for it, so it definitely ranks right up there as one of our best wins. Especially with the way went we went about it. That final had everything and the momentum kept swinging," he said.

"This time was different in the sense that instead of going in as underdogs we went in as favourites. You've got that tag on you, and every time you take to the field you can't have an off day ... because everyone plays their best cricket against you.

"We really earned it this year, and to back it up in the Bonnor Cup was great.

"The best thing in the finals was that each game we had someone different standing up. It was Bailey [Brien] in this game, myself in the one before, Connor [Slattery] and all the bowlers in the game before. That's what was so impressive.

"The rewarding part is that it's something we've built towards. We had a fair few people in the side from our original win. Some of those guys who missed out, like Clayto [Derryn Clayton], were back for this one.

"Everyone had put in a lot of work and effort to help out first grade. With COVID going through and with rep stuff happening, our second grade and President's Cup teams gave a lot to us, which lessened their chances of going through to finals."

St Pat's Old Boys are first Bathurst team to win a BOIDC premiership since Centennials achieved the feat in 2001-02.

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