As the rain tumbled around him, Jesse French mustered the match winner in the 90^th minute against Albion Park to fire his side into the 2020 Illawarra Premier League grand final.

In a tough slog, French's late goal proved the difference in this year's preliminary final. As a result, the Sharks will now get their chance to redeem last week's semi-final loss to Wollongong United, when they meet in next Sunday's decider at Ian McLennan Park.

It also means coach Dan McGoldrick's men are a chance to complete the IPL title double this season.

After Sunday's clash, a relieved Sharks coach Dan McGoldrick said both teams deserved credit for the tough battle at Balls Paddock.

"It was, for both sides, very difficult conditions. It was by no means an easy game. It could have been 1-0 to them, or 3-0 to us, or 3-0 to them. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, but our goalkeeper [Jair Fernandez] was outstanding," he said.

"While they did have a lot of opportunities, a lot of balls were played into the box which we defended well. They can walk away feeling very, very unlucky in terms of their effort. Ours was fantastic.

"[But] they're definitely a quality football playing side. Credit to the work that coaches Goran [Trajceski] and Chris [Peros] have done."

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McGoldrick said his young Sharks had learned a lot from last week's loss to United.

"I thought the difference between our performance today and against United was that we didn't lose shape. We stayed compact," he said.

"We came out today and I told the boys 'play without fear, enjoy it'. Against Wollongong United, we were very nervy and coughed up a lot of possession as a consequence. Today, possession was probably a 50-50 split, it was just who was going to get that one goal - and thankfully we got it at the back end of the game."

Sunday's win continued a "fairy tale" year for the Sharks, McGoldrick said.

"We're a 131-year club and we've won the league and it's in the grand final. And that's definitely not been done before," he said.

"I'm immensely proud of the effort the boys have put in and for me personally, it gives some sort of credence to the fact we won the league and it wasn't lucky. We've got the top two teams in the division playing in the grand final."

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For Albion Park, Sunday's loss ended an incredible run of form: they hadn't lost a game since August 16.

Trajceski said he couldn't be more proud of his side's efforts this season.

"It was a very tough game today in those conditions, but we just didn't put our chances away. It's as simple as that," the outgoing coach said.

"I'm very proud, they're an amazing bunch of blokes. All year, they've battled, they've worked and got results. You don't go nine games undefeated by not playing well and going undefeated.

"But full credit to Woonona, they battled all day and ended up getting the result. Good luck to them in the grand final."