KEILOR will have to take the long road to make this season’s Essendon District Football League (EDFL) grand final, after a heartbreaking two-point loss against Greenvale on Sunday.

Jarrod Garth, who starred with seven goals, had a chance to win the game for the Blues after the siren. But his shot at goal fell short, as Greenvale triumphed 15.8 (98) to 14.12 (96) in the major semi-final.

The Blues will now face Maribyrnong Park in next week’s preliminary final.

Keilor coach Mick McGuane viewed the loss as a missed opportunity, citing the 3.5 his team kicked in a dominant third quarter display.

In what was a close battle all afternoon, the Blues trailed at every change, but by no more than two goals.

“It could have gone either way,” McGuane said.

“We clearly need to execute our chances. We had our chances to convert simple opportunities at goal and we failed to do that. It costs you dearly.”

“We missed three shots inside 25m and that’s not good enough and we have one forward that dominates. The others mostly struggled.

“There were times when we sort of gained the momentum. In the third quarter, we were clearly the dominant team for the last 15 minutes and had them on the ropes. But we didn’t convert our chances.”

“That’s the game, though. You make mistakes. There is a lot hinging on the game and the stakes are high because it’s a grand final berth if you win and with that comes pressure. Some blokes cope with it and some blokes can’t.”

“But we’ve got a preliminary final and we’ll move on pretty quick.”

While the numbers read well for Keilor, the scoreboard did not read in its favour.

It leaves McGuane confident his team can still compete with any of its rivals if it uses the ball efficiently.

“We were one kick away. I’ve got pretty good belief in why we win games of footy. At the end of it, it said we were probably a superior team, but we lost by two points.

“Greenvale took their chances and we didn’t. By our stats, we won contested ball, clearances and the inside 50m count. We won all the ones that mattered, but we didn’t hit the scoreboard on a regular basis and kick the goals we should have.”

While Garth was the outstanding contributor for Keilor, McGuane said a number of others did not reach their usual heights.

But Matthew Pearce, Ricky Marcy and Rodney Van Riet worked tirelessly and almost pushed the Blues over the line.

McGuane said Keilor would benefit from the return of Michael James and James Papalia, who were on VFL duties for the Bendigo Bombers on Sunday.

“They’ll come back into our system and strengthen our team because they are very good players.”