Published: Wednesday, 11th March, 2009 4:25pm

CHAMPIONS

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The wait is over for history-making Ayr Rugby FC

Roll that word around, taste it on the tongue, savour it on the palate and you might, just might, get a flavour of the atmosphere, the emotion, the passion and the unbridled joy which greeted the final whistle at Millbrae at 4.30 on Saturday.

The crowd of almost 2,000 rose to acclaim the achievement of Damien Kelly and his side who, with that 20-10 defeat of Edinburgh Accies, were crowned Scottish Hydro Electric Premier 1 champions, the top club side in Scotland.

The mud, the glaur, the rain, the wind did nothing to deter the invasion of the pitch for the Ayr support to acclaim their heroes as the cup, the first significant silverware to be won by Ayr in thirty years, was handed over to skipper Skippy and raised aloft to thunderous cheers.

Strangely enough there wasn"t the feeling of tension, even trepidation, which had preceded the match against Selkirk last month, the game which effectively decided the title race, more one of rising anticipation.

That feeling was enhanced as Ayr started in grand style, taking the visiting pack apart in the opening stages before Frasier Climo lofted a now almost trademark kick towards Flo Marin"s wing. The winger duly collected them put in a superb offload to full back Andy Wilson who gleefully scampered the final thirty yards unimpeded.

That was after seven minutes and although Accies had a chance to get on the board a couple of minutes later, Mike Campbell"s kick fell well short. A dust up in which the Ayr forces galvanised to protect one of their own saw Julian Montoro sin-binned but the Ayr response was immediate. Jeff Wilson stole the opposition line out, Climo smacked a fifty yard touch finder downfield and after Marin and Wilson had again combined, Accies offended and Climo stretched the lead to 10-0 with a penalty.

Accies could find no way past the fourteen men and, restored to full strength, Ayr moved further ahead thanks to Climo"s second penalty and there was no way back for Accies. Gordon Reid, Pat MacArthur and Stewart Fenwick had the opposition front row in tatters, Scott Sutherland, Andy Dunlop and Jeff Wilson ruled the lineout with Glen Tippett and Damien Kelly causing havoc every time they took the ball forward.

Prompted by AJ McFarlane at scrum half and with Julian Montoro and Richard McCallum ensuring Accies backs were zipped up all it needed was another try to clinch the game.

It came with the clock on the half time mark, a superb drive by the Ayr pack ending with Jeff Wilson diving over for try number two.

Climo struck a superb conversion from the touchline and Ayr turned 20-0 up and 40 minutes away from the title.

The the rain came by the bucketload and, obviously bouyed by what was no doubt a coruscating talking to by coach Ian Barnes, Accies upped their game several notches. Not that it troubled the Ayr defence with Stewart Magorian relishing the tackles on anyone foolish enough to move the ball wide and the midfield policed by Jeff Wilson, Dunlop and Tippett.

The territory Accies held payed off with a Campbell penalty on the hour mark but any threat to the Ayr line was ended consistently by tackles which not only stopped the ball carrier but forced the ball, now like a bar of soap, back to Ayr"s posession.

The clock ran down, the sense that Ayr were simply playing out time increased and althougfh a try at the Accies end would have sent the crowd into ecstacy, it happened at the Ayr end with the final play of the game when Ed Stuart crashed over for the try converted by Campbell which was no more than Accies deserved for their efforts.

Campbell"s conversion went over, Ian Heard blew for full time and the celebrations began in earnest.No one cared that the rain was sluicing down as SRU board member Ed Crozier handed the cup to Damien Kelly and the party on the pitch soon resembled a mudfest.

The trophy was secured but looked in serious danger more than once as it was passed from muddy hand to muddy hand, the players were hugged by the fans and many a dry cleaning bill will be glaldly stumped up for as the supporters got almost as clatty as the team.

As ever coach kenny Murray was pragmatic in victory,saying: 'It"s fantastic. We"ve put in a lot of hard work this year. It"s been difficult at times with a new coach and new players so the boys have really worked hard for the past six or seven months and it"s worth it when you get to this stage.

'It wasn"t the best of games today. It was a mud bath in the second half but I thought we played some good stuff in the first half and deserved our win in the end.

'I think anyone watching this year will feel we have been the most consistent team so I"m looking forward to relaxing now and having a big night tonight.'

Damien Kelly was ecstatic and said: 'I heve been at Ayr for eight years and we have come close to a couple of things but this has been well worth the wait.

' I think we felt that after a few games at the start of the season that there was something special about this squad and that has been proved by what we have achieved in winning the title.'

Team - Andy Wilson; Flo Marin, Julian Montoro, Richard McCallum, Stewart Magorian; Frasier Climo, AJ McFarlane; Gordon Reid, Pat MacArthur, Stewart Fenwick, Damien Kelly, Scott Sutherland, Jeff Wilson, Andy Dunlop, Glen Tippett.

Subs (all used) Gordon Sykes, Scott Nimmo, Paul Burke, Ryan Holland, Dougie Steele.