NSW overcame a brain explosion from Andrew Fifita that saw the prop sent to the sin bin to deny Queensland of an Origin clean sweep with an 18-14 victory in a spiteful clash at ANZ Stadium.

With a minute remaining and the Blues staring down the barrel of an embarrassing series clean sweep, James Tedesco burst into  open space and paved the way for Michael Jennings to score the match winner on the stroke of fulltime. The Paul Gallen farewell went to script, with the skipper gatecrashing what Queensland were hoping was a 3-0 series whitewash to send out Corey Parker a winner.

But instead they were forced to raise the shield on a sombre note, with the Blues players sending the 61,267 fans into a frenzy with a spiteful exchange with Parker and Maroons teammates who sledged them after Origin two.

Fifita ignited an all-in push and shove, which spilled over the sideline after he ran into a Queensland try celebration to drag Gavin Cooper to the deck by the head.

The Cronulla firebrand took exception to Cooper throwing the ball at the head of teammate and close friend Matt Moylan after scoring a try, running 30 metres into the Maroons huddle to retaliate.

Queensland lost Cooper Cronk to the sin bin for a professional foul in the first half, with the referees left with no choice but to do the same with Fifita after his misdemeanour. For NSW the first half was disjointed, largely ineffective and to make things worse for NSW, it looked rehearsed and predictable.

Despite dominating possession in the first half – including a stint of six consecutive sets attacking the Queensland line – and playing 10minutes against 12 men, the Blues struggled to find a way through the Maroons defence.

They went into the sheds with a 6-4 lead, but given the mountain of possession in favour of the Blues it was a moral victory for Queensland to only be trailing by two at the break. Not even a 9-1 penalty count in favour of NSW or the sin-binning of  Cronk for denying Wade Graham the chance to chase a James Maloney grubber could help the Blues take the game by the scruff of the neck.

The penalty count finished 12-3

A mistake from Blake Ferguson inside his own half opened the door for Queensland to post first points, with Greg Inglis capitalising on a sweeping back-line play to give the Maroons a 4-0 lead inside five minutes. Despite an unconvincing start to the game, the Blues hit the lead midway through the second half when Gallen found himself with the ball on the last tackle and managed to offload to Tyson Frizell for his second try in as many Origin appearances.

The Blues moved out to an eight-point lead early in the second half after capitalising on a Dane Gagai knock on from a bomb, however Andrew Fifita's try was marred by debate over whether Michael Jennings should have been penalised for being in front of the kicker. But as they have done so often in the past 11 years, the Maroons hit back through Cowboys duo Johnathan Thurston and Gavin Cooper, who scored a try on debut to reduce the deficit to 12-10 with 27minutes remaining.

The Maroons  took the lead with six minutes remaining, with Josh Mansour paying the price for allowing a Cronk bomb to land as Darius Boyd cleaned up the spoils to give his side a 16-12 lead. But a try in the dying minutes to Jennings, which was converted after the siren by Paul Gallen, gave NSW a ray of hope heading into 2017 with a young side.