In a fast-paced and physical decider played under lights at Orange's Pride Park on Thursday night, it took a try with just under six minutes remaining from Saints centre Sione Naufahu to seal victory for the Saints against their Group 11 rivals.

As Neilsen, who guided the Saints superbly from halfback and was amongst the try scorers, embraced and congratulated his team-mates after the final siren it was clear how much the win meant to him.

Not long after he and his vice-captain, lock Aaron Mawhinney, were named joint winners of the player of the under 21s competition as well.

"It was unreal - to be able to skipper the boys was like the best experience ever. To win the player of the year with my best mate Aaron was so good and then to top it off with a grand final win, even better," he said.

"Struth it was tough and the boys were mentally tough on both sides, no-one really let the arm-wrestle go either way.

"Obviously being from Parkes and playing against Dubbo CYMS before, I knew that Dubbo CYMS were a side that is going to stay in the arm wrestle the whole time, all the way down to the hooter, and they nearly scored there at the end.

"For the boys to defend that well in the last four minutes there, that was unbelievable."

CYMS had advanced to the under 21s grand final undefeated, but given the Saints had played out an 18-all draw against them in round two, little was expected to separate the pair.

It was CYMS who struck the first blow of Thursday night's decider when second-rower Jack Smith charged onto the ball and crashed over between the sticks in the fifth minute, Jordi Madden slotting the conversion to make it 6-0.

But a CYMS error soon after - knocking on a bomb - gave Pat's an opening with an attacking scrum feed 10 metres out.

A nice Neilsen grubber forced a line drop out at the end of that set and five tackles later it was a clever Kyle Mawhinney kick which saw the Saints trap CYMS in-goal once more.

That gave the blue and whites their fourth consecutive set and finally they breached CYMS' defence, fullback Tyler Colley's sharp acceleration helping him over in the right corner.

The big hits came as both sides battled for control, CYMS' Karl Uele pulling off some bell-ringers while Pat's enforcer Nick Barlow made his presence felt as well.

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CYMS threatened when a strong James Stanley charge and flick pass created an overlap, but a knock-on saw the chance go begging. Likewise Pat's fans held their breath when Colley looked like running away from a kick return, only to be halted by Kyjuan Crawford's desperate ankle-tap.

But with 13 seconds left in the first half, after the Saints had forced another line drop out, Josh Hanrahan bullied his way over between the sticks with a hit and spin. The conversion gave his side a 10-6 lead.

In the second half it was more of the same intensity.

The Saints zipped out to a 10-point lead when a Neilsen grubber hit the legs of a CYMS defender and bounced back towards him, the halfback diving on the lose ball to score.

But soon after CYMS responded. Jayden Young burst though Pat's defence up the middle of the ruck and while a covering tackle from Cooper Nunan stopped him, a quick play-the-ball saw Clayton Daley over in the corner.

After Madden's sideline conversion it was 16-12 and when Stanley - who was a danger on the left edge all night - crossed 10 minutes later, it locked it up at 16-all.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, it set up a tense finish.

The telling blow came after the Saints earned repeat sets on CYMS' line, Naufahu diving over to put his side ahead 20-16.

There were four minutes and 14 seconds remaining when CYMS kicked off and for almost all of that time they threatened to nab a late winner. But the Saints held on.

As the final whistle was blown, St Pat's coach Tyson Medlyn sprinted on to the field to celebrate with his players.

"Mate I was nervous, I was really nervous in the end," Medlyn said.

"I knew we were in an arm wrestle and that's how we wanted to play it, we knew they had some good, skilful players out wide. Not taking anything away from our side, we've got some good players out wide too, but I knew they'd scored a lot of points out wide.

"So I told the boys just stay up the middle and you'll get rewarded and just keep it basic because that's what finals are about, completing."

For Medlyn the hard-fought win over CYMS was a reward for the work his squad had put into the competition. It was work done across the five round games, semi-final and decider as well as on the training paddock.

"It was just great because the season didn't start six weeks ago, it started before Christmas. I've seen these boys put in every day, they've been leading and they've been great role models for our younger boys coming through," he said.

"So to see these boys get rewarded after about four-five months of hard work - I can't even say how good that is.

"We had our captain-coach from first grade, Zac Merritt, come and it was a key part of our winning. He's actually won two or three of these grand finals and some of these boys haven't, so he went in there and told them what it takes."

Best on ground honours for the grand final went to Pat's second rower Barlow.

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