THE St Pat’s under 18s side tuned up for the Group 10 semi-finals with an adequate but not brilliant 22-8 win over Orange CYMS at the Sportsground on Sunday.

With not a lot on the line for either side, the result was fairly irrelevant.

CYMS were condemned to the bottom of the ladder, while St Pat’s were already locked into an elimination final against local rivals Panthers this weekend.

The Saints were certainly the better side, but some poor handling – particularly in the second half – meant that they didn’t run away with the game.

A try to CYMS with five minutes to play gave them a sniff at 16-8, but with the conversion going wide their hopes of a last-gasp comeback were shot.

 Saints lock Jack Mackey sealed the win with a solo effort a few minutes later.

“It wasn’t the greatest win and it wasn’t the conditions that were causing us to drop the ball,” St Pat’s coach Daniel Finn said.

“We have to get back to being more clinical next week and work our way through our sets with a bit more organisation.”

The hosts were on the front foot early as they crossed for the opening try through winger Morgan Tucker. They took their advantage out to 10-0 when prop Thomas Dibley crashed over.

In danger of losing touch altogether, CYMS rallied and pegged back a try when centre James Angus got across the line.

But in the shadows of half-time St Pat’s took back all the momentum with Mackey strolling through some shoddy defence, giving the hosts a 16-4 lead at the break.

CYMS made a bad start to the second half, dropping the kick-off cold, but Pat’s were unable to make them pay.

A couple of times Pat’s looked certain to score and were particularly dangerous on the left edge, but couldn’t complete the last pass as CYMS repeatedly escaped without further damage to the scoreboard.

CYMS were no better with their finishing, coughing up the ball on the few occasions they had possession in Pat’s half.

Errors and penalties chewed up a lot of time, and it was only when the clock was winding down close to full-time that CYMS put the opposition defence under any concerted pressure, leading to a try to fullback Will Redmond.

Mackey wrapped things up for the Saints, a fitting finish given that he was his side’s best player throughout the contest.

“Jack was awesome,” Finn said.

“He carried us forward all game. I thought our fullback Kyle Martin was very good too, especially considering he was quite ill going into the game.

“Panthers next week are a big side, we will have to be very clinical around the ruck to hold them in the middle, but I think we can certainly go around them if we’re playing our best footy.”

ST PAT’S 22 (Jack Mackey 2, Morgan Tucker, Thomas Dibley tries; Kurt Norton 3 goals) defeated ORANGE CYMS 8 (Will Redmond, James Angus tries)