A DROP goal was the only thing seperating the two best teams in this year's Northern Rivers Rugby League competition.

After finishing one and two on the ladder at the end of the regular season, a Grafton Ghosts versus Byron Bay Red Devils clash to decide which team was the best of the best, seemed the only fair way to end the year.

The game lived up to all the hype and will be remembered as one of the best grand finals in recent memory with the Devils eventually sneaking past Grafton 25-24 in extra time.

Ben McLennan showed his best form of the season in yesterday's match scoring the Ghosts opening try in just the third minute to get the minor premiers off to the best possible start.

The 6-0 lead silenced the crowd for the briefest of moments before Red Devils winger Tom Merritt scored an opportunist try, against the run of play.

Two tackles after the re-start, Ghosts fullback Khan Williams was sandwiched in a tackle, spilling the ball only for Bay's hooker Eli Colby to pounce on it before offloading to Merritt who sprinted 60 metres to score.

With no fullback at home, the cover defence was always going to struggle to chase down the hare-like Merritt.

Byron's halfback Jared De Thierry missed the conversion to trail by two.

Several poor fifth tackle options prevented Byron from scoring soon after, but the flood gates opened wide and Byron's open-air colosseum erupted as the home team piled on three unanswered tries and if it wasn't for the wayward boot of the normally accurate De Thierry, the Ghosts could have been out of the game all togethter in the first half.

Merritt bagged his double in the 21st minute when prop Simon Kelly slid across field, drawing defenders before popping a ball to the winger.

Four minutes later and De Thierry baffled the Ghosts defence in the mid-field strolling over for the easiest of tries.

De Thierry shaped to pass before tucking the ball under his arm and scoring under the posts. His conversion took the lead to 14-6 before second rower Alex Butschies crossed in the 33rd minute.

The try came on the back of an error by replacement back Marty Haynes who seconds earlier had fumbled and dropped a towering De Thierry bomb.

If the Bay had scored next to extend their 18-6 lead, the match could well have gone pear shaped for the visiting team however they regrouped and rose to the challenge, firstly through a try to Carson Galloway and another through replacement forward Dan Shipman late in the second half.

The Ghosts came out firing in the second stanza and within five minutes of play had already pulled off some bellringers to put a seed of doubt in the minds of the Bay's attacking weapons.

The normally dominant Clarence Kelly went absent from the Devils backline, held quiet all day by monster Ghosts centre Aaron Marscham.

A howling southerly kept both fullbacks under plenty of pressure and De Thierry used the conditions the best, peppering Williams, Galloway, Haynes and Daniel Lollback all day.

In the 57th minute, a De Thierry bomb was allowed to bounce by Williams before his opposite number, Tobin Cupples pounced on the bobbling ball in the in-goal to again extend the home team's lead to 24-16.

Cupples celebrations were short-lived as Ghosts lock Walter Donnelly pulled off the hit of the season smashing the fullback several minutes later.

For precautionary reason, Cupples was taken from the field on a stretcher.

While De Thierry and Battese starred for the Devils, it was hard to fault any of the Ghosts players especially Galloway who scored his second try of the match in the 71st minute following good lead up work by prop Nat Sewell and replacement David Neville.

Trailing 24-22, the Bay was penalised for a play the ball infringement 20 metres out and right in front. Hartmann calmly kicked the penalty which forced the game into extra time.

After several missed field goal opportunities by the Devils, the home team finally got themselves into position to score the game breaker to avoid golden point and De Thierry, unmarked and not under any pressure from the Ghosts defence, simply slapped the ball over the black dot for the winner.

The game ended with several punches thrown by both teams and the Ghosts Donnelly was given 10 minutes in the bin with just seconds remaining on the clock.