The final day of the 2026 Illawarra Premier League 1 provided the exciting matches it promised as key battles came to a remarkable conclusion across the table on Sunday.
Here is the rundown of Round 22.
Wollongong Olympic 2 Albion Park White Eagles 1
Wollongong Olympic produced a spectacular comeback to claim the league championship with a 2-1 win against Albion Park White Eagles at JJ Kelly Park.
Only a win was enough for Olympic to snatch the title from then league leaders Albion Park, and they delivered in dramatic fashion.
The match got off to a great start for the White Eagles when a neat dummy sent Jayden Makowski through on goal. He made no mistake to put the side a goal up inside 10 minutes.
Olympic fought back in the 36th minute through experienced defender Nick Littler – a sixth goal of the campaign for the towering centre back.
With the game delicately poised, the decisive moment came in the 81st minute through Mitchell Brooker’s thunderous header turning the score around and sending Olympic to the top of the table.
Brooker has stepped up big time for the newly-crowned league champions in recent weeks, adding to his crucial goal against Wollongong United in Round 21 with the winning goal against Albion Park.
Olympic navigated the final few minutes to secure their second league title in three seasons.
Albion Park will have to settle for second position heading into the finals series, taking on Cringila, while Olympic have the week off.
Cringila Lions 1 Wollongong United 1
A 10-player Cringila Lions held on to third place, registering a 1-1 draw with Wollongong United at Crehan Park.
The hosts hit the front midway through the first half, courtesy Jake Bradshaw, but just before the break, defender Ekoue D’Almeida was sent off for the team.
Evan Ball squared the ledger in the 57th minute to give United the late momentum in the match.
The Lions fought off a late surge to see out what was their first draw of the 2026 season.
Cringila finished ahead of United on goal difference, and will tackle Albion Park in the first week of finals.
United face Helensburgh in the first week of the finals.
Helensburgh Thistle 4 Tarrawanna Blueys 3
Helensburgh secured their first top-flight finals appearance since in their history, with an exhilarating 4-3 win against Tarrawanna at Rex Jackson Park.
The hosts needed to win to guarantee their spot in the finals series, with Bulli breathing down their necks.
Advin Trebincevic gave the visitors a dream start, firing home with the first 60 seconds, however, Jonty Busch restored parity from the spot less than two minutes later with a penalty.
Michael McStay ensured the Thistle went into halftime with the lead, scoring on the half-hour mark.
Tarrawanna produced another fast start in the second half, when Kade Kinsella volleying home scoring against his former side five minutes in to even up the scores again.
The game was suspended for nearly an hour as Dylan Nikolovski sustained a nasty injury that required an ambulance.
From the corner restart, Busch smashed home from a scamble in what looked to be the winner for the hosts.
With both fifth place and relegation in the balance, Kinsella popped up with his second goal of the match to slide it home from close range in the 88th minute to break Thistle hearts late on, but McStay incredibly turned the script back in the hosts’ favour in the dying embers to win the points for his team.
This was an essential win for Helensburgh because Bulli also won against Port Kembla in Round 22. Both teams finished the year locked on 35 points and the same goal difference, with Helensburgh scoring one more goal than Bulli.
Tarrawanna’s defeat condemns the Blueys to bottom place on the table.
Bulli 4 Port Kembla 1
Bulli beat Port Kembla 4-1 at Balls Paddock, but it wasn’t enough for the side to sneak into finals football.
In hindsight, Bulli needed to win by four goals to overtake Helensburgh.
Lewis Grimshaw opened the scoring in the 33rd minute – a lead Bulli took into halftime.
In the 61st minute, Grimshaw scored his second goal of the game, before Joel Starr added a third in the 85th minute to get the Balls Paddock crowd excited.
Jordan Prentoski put a dent in the hosts’ plans, pulling a goal back for Port three minutes later.
Ben McDonald scored from the spot late on to re-establish Bulli’s three-goal advantage, but it proved insufficient to get Bulli over the line.
Port Kembla finished the season in 10th position, with a nine-point buffer on the bottom two teams.
Shellharbour 3 Berkeley 3
Shellharbour concluded their season with a drama-filled 3-3 draw against Berkeley at Barrack Heights Sports Field.
Berkeley raced into a two-goal first-half lead courtesy of Daniel Merold and William Provino, and looked set to claim a final-day win.
Danil Romanov halved the deficit for Shellharbour in the 68th minute, and two minutes later, Niko Kalamvokis equalised.
Moments later, Provino scored to put Bekerley back in front in a rollercoaster few minutes.
Nathan Cario produced a 97th-minute equaliser for Shellharbour to ensure the points were shared in another special game on the final day.
Shellharbour moved one point ahead of Tarrawanna (12th) to finish the year, while promoted Berkeley concluded their season with only one loss in their last five matches.
South Coast United 1 Coniston 5
Coniston made light work of South Coast United, delivering a 5-1 win at Ian McLennan Park.
Cameron Morgan put the away team in front in the 12th minute, and Toby Norval doubled this advantage heading into halftime with his goal in the 36th minute.
Two goals within eight minutes after the hour mark from Kieran Kuzmanoski and Morgan extended their lead to four, before Jake Gander turned the ball into his own goal to make it five.
Abdul Aljabery scored a consolation for South Coast in the final seven minutes to give the home fans something to cheer about in a tough end to the season for the side.
A fantastic start to 2026 had United dreaming of finals football, but a challenging second half of the year has seen them slip to ninth.
Coniston endured an inconsistent season, missing the finals for only the second time since they rejoined the competition in 2019.
