[sql] How can I get just the first row in a result set AFTER ordering?

This gives me just one row (the first one):

SELECT BLA
FROM BLA
WHERE BLA
AND ROWNUM < 2

However, I want the most recent date val; I can make that the first row this way:

SELECT BLA
FROM BLA
WHERE BLA
ORDER BY FINALDATE DESC

When I try to mix the two partial victories, though, it doesn't work - apparently the "Select the first row only" logic fires before the order by, and then the order by is subsequently ignored.

In 12c, here's the new way:

select bla
  from bla
 where bla
 order by finaldate desc
 fetch first 1 rows only; 

How nice is that!

You can nest your queries:

select * from (
    select bla
    from bla
    where bla
    order by finaldate desc
)
where rownum < 2

An alternative way:

SELECT ...
FROM bla
WHERE finalDate = (SELECT MAX(finalDate) FROM bla) AND
      rownum = 1