The round 17 national U/20s contest saw Dale’s Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs taking on Cronulla Sharks which included Michael.

In a one-sided contest, the Bulldogs took the honours 34-16, despite a late charge from their opponents.

Both Finucane boys scored a try and were heavily involved all night.

The teams exchanged the lead early before the Bulldogs took the advantage when Dale crashed over just minutes before the half-hour mark.

The conversion was slotted and Canterbury-Bankstown took a 12-4 lead at half-time.

The Bulldogs returned to the field fired up with three quick tries effectively sealing victory.

Trailing 30-4, Cronulla refused to give in and a converted try brought the deficit back to 20 points.

When Michael dived over in the 74th minute and the conversion was slotted, the Sharks had a sniff but Canterbury-Bankstown sealed the win with a try in the dying minutes.

Starting at lock, Dale was a consistent performer, particularly in defence while Michael was successfully injected from the bench into the second-row.

Cronulla have now lost five successive games while the victory sees the Bulldogs move inside the top eight.

The Sharks are still in touch but need to turn their form around quickly.

It has been an interesting journey to follow with the cousins reaching this game in contrasting styles.

Dale has continued to go from strength-to-strength in the past two seasons at the Bulldogs in the junior grades.

In 2009 he won the SG Ball Player of the Year award and this season hasn’t missed a game at the U/20 level.

On the other hand, his slightly older cousin was given no guarantees when he moved to Cronulla at the end of last year.

Michael has been forced to toil at club level while maintaining an outside job and was rewarded for his commitment by making his Toyota Cup debut last week.

Peter Finucane, Michael’s dad, said he was proud of both boys.

“They did a lot of tackling and they worked hard throughout the game,” he said.

“It was only Michael’s second game after he got about 18 minutes on the field last week against the Cowboys but he made a lot of tackles then.

“I’m not sure what his tackle count was this week but he was highly involved.

“I was really proud to be at the game.

“Dale is already established at this level and it was good to see Michael finally get his chance.

“Hopefully this sets Michael up for the rest of the year.

“Now he has made the grade it would be great to see him stay there and be rewarded for hard work.

“He hasn’t missed one training session this year.”

Did sparks fly between the two on field?

“They kept away from each other actually and were only involved in direct play a few times,” Mr Finucane said.

“They didn’t go out to target each other and were on opposite sides of the field.

“I’m not sure if that was the coach’s ploy or not to be honest.

“We knew the game was coming up but only found that Michael was playing on Monday night.

“The Cronulla club really looked after us to make sure we got up there.”

Mr Finucane said his loyalty during the game was split.

“People probably thought I was a bit mad cheering for both sides and I got really excited when they both scored,” he said.

“Hopefully this is the start of something for them both at the next level because they both did enough to be noticed.”

Before the game, Fox Sports provided a feature on the Finucane pair which included an interview with Dale.

“Dale gave our local area a wrap, saying there were some good footy players coming out of this area which I was proud of,” Mr Finucane.

“That was definitely one for the family book.

“I think this match showed that there is a lot of good talent coming from our area.

“It shows that these guys are just as good as everyone else and that’s a credit to all involved.”

Dale’s mum, Sharon Finucane, was unable to attend the match but watched it on television with Jeannine Elliott and her family.

Jeannine’s son Adam will be joining Dale at the Bulldogs next year.

Ms Finucane said it was a terrific game on Saturday night.

“I’m absolutely so proud of them both,” she said.

“It was like watching a Tathra versus Bega footy match all over again.

“It’s great to see Michael make the grade and hopefully one day they can play on the same team.

“It’s great to see them both up there because they have some support in each other.”