Joe Daniher arrived to the hospital just MINUTES before his partner gave birth

Joe Daniher almost missed the birth of his first child after dashing home from Melbourne on Friday, arriving to the hospital with just 30 minutes to spare.

The hero of the elimination final over Richmond last week, the Lions forward missed his team’s epic 14.8 (92) to 11.23 (79) win over the Demons in the semi-final at the MCG after taking personal leave to return to Brisbane.

And Lions CEO Greg Swann revealed Daniher only just made it to the hospital ‘by half-an-hour’ after flying back to Queensland.

Joe Daniher missed the Lions’ win over Melbourne to attend the birth of his first child

‘He was probably a little bit unlucky Joey,’ Swann told 3AW on Saturday morning.

‘They’d gone off to the gynaecologist on Wednesday and he’d said: “Look the baby’s quite high – there’s no dramas the baby will come at the moment”.

‘He made it by half an hour which was great! It was just a bit unlucky – 24 hours either way and he would have been OK [to play on Friday night].

Daniher and his partner welcomed a baby daughter and Lions coach Chris Fagan confirmed the forward will be back into the team for Brisbane’s preliminary final against Geelong on Friday night at the MCG.

The forward was the hero of Brisbane’s dramatic elimination final against Richmond

Daniher kicked a last-minute winner as the Lions edged the Tigers by two points in a thriller

‘Joey and his wife had the baby so I’m great he was able to get home. They had a little daughter,’ he revealed post match on Friday night.

‘It’s win-win for us – we got a fresh Joey Daniher for next week and we got a win tonight so you couldn’t get a better day than that.’

The Lions exorcised their MCG hoodoo in emphatic fashion by overturning a 22-point half-time deficit against the reigning premiers.

The Lions roared back from a 28-point deficit to stun Melbourne in the semi-final, winning at the MCG for the first time since 2014 to secure a berth in the preliminary final

It was Brisbane’s first win at the MCG since 2014, ending an 11-match losing streak, and came after four straight defeats to the Demons by an average of 44 points over the last two years.

The Lions are now into a preliminary final against minor premiers Geelong, while Melbourne’s dream of back-to-back flags is over.

Brisbane are one win away from reaching a first Grand Final since 2004.