View the photo gallery from the 53-point win.
Collingwood led by 39 points midway through the second term and had seemingly sucked the life out of the Blues, but Carlton held an ace up its sleeve in the shape of a big, awkward-kicking Irishman.
Late in the first half Setanta O’hAilpin marked and kicked his second to wake Carlton from its slumber and revive a game that was almost dead ten minutes earlier.
Watch Sharrod Wellingham speak to CTV in the MCG rooms after the win.
O’hAilpin had three goals by the main break but late goals to Alan Didak and Chris Dawes (from a result of 50m penalty) allowed Collingwood to start the third term with a 28-point buffer.
But the crowd of more than 80,000 would not have been able to predict what would happen next when play restarted, and within three minutes O’hAilpin finally clutched a fumbled ball to snap his fourth and declare the game ‘on’.
Watch Mick Malthouse address the media in his post-match press conference
Eddie Betts cut the margin to 17 points and Simon White’s goal from a seemingly-impossible angle on the boundary line ignited the crowd and had the Blues within 12 points.
O’hAilpin had another chance to score but this time this time his unusual chip-kick action didn’t stand up, but with Carlton captain Chris Judd getting is hands on the ball, Ryan Houlihan was able to goal and only four points separated the teams.
However, Collingwood had its own unlikely goal scorer in Luke Ball and after a brilliant piece of roving Ball kicked a left-foot goal - his third - to push Collingwood’s lead out to ten points.
From here the team traded blows like heavyweights - O’hAilpin nailed his fifth but the Pies found some magic with an 80-metre long bomb that bounced through the big sticks.
Watch the team sing the song after the match.
It was the first time Collingwood had consecutive goals for the quarter and when Harry O’Brien kicked an equally impressive monster goal right on the siren, the Pies lead was back out to 23 points.
Betts started the final term with his third goal for Carlton but again the Pies responded with Travis Cloke and Dayne Beams kicking majors.
Collingwood had beaten Carlton into submission and the Pies were able to cruise to win the Richard Pratt Cup, their fifth game of the season.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
Carlton 3.2 7.2 13.5 16.6 (102)
Collingwood 4.2 11.6 17.8 24.11 (155)
GOALS
Carlton: O’hAilpin 5, Betts 3, Murphy 3, Yarran 2, White, Houlihan, Garlett
Collingwood: Ball 3, Dawes 3, Medhurst 3, Didak 2, Sidebottom 2, Beams 2, Wellingham 2, Cloke 2, Pendlebury, Thomas, Swan, O’Brien, Jolly
BEST
Carlton: Judd, O’hAilpin, Murphy, Bower, Gibbs, Simpson
Collingwood: Swan, Pendlebury, Wellingham, Thomas, Ball, Dawes
INJURIES
Carlton: Russell (thigh)
Collingwood: Fraser (knee)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Stevic, Findlay, McInerney
Official crowd: 80, 645 at MCG
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.