The Magpies will now have two weeks to rest and prepare for the big one on Sunday September 14 at Sid Kallis Oval.

In a match that finished with 30 penalties in total, the win was going to go to which side made fewer mistakes in a very stop-start affair.

Cowra now get the honour of hosting the season decider while minor premiers St Pat's will be scrambling to patch themselves up before their preliminary final with the Mudgee Dragons.

Pat's were left to resent three mistakes close to the Cowra try line within the final 10 minutes of the first half - a half they were held scoreless in.

"Our completions were really strong today. We had a look at our two losses to them during the year and those completion rates were around about 60 per cent so we knew what we needed to fix up," Cowra coach Steve Sutton said.

"A scrappy game with lots of penalties but we were good enough to get over the line in the end. That's a home grand final at Cowra, it's going to be massive for the town. We've still got a big job ahead of us. Pat's are a quality side and they'll hit back hard against Mudgee so we'll be in for a tough game no matter who we get."

Three early penalties awarded to Pat's gave the hosts the early chances as they kept Cowra pinned in their own half for a majority of the first 10 minutes.

Cowra made better use of the football when they had it though and it led to a try for Warren Williams on the left wing to go 6-0 up.

Jacob Bell spilled a perfect chance when he put Benjamin John's short ball to ground on top of the Cowra try line.

The visitors punished Pat's when they doubled the lead on the back of a soft try from close range to Ricky Whitton.

Cameron Neville was sin binned with 14 minutes remaining until half-time for deliberately slowing the play-the-ball.

Despite it Pat's played some of their most positive football of the day in his absence but with no reward.

John lost the ball as he dived over and Antonio Ale's line break came to nothing when the ball was lost once again. A Pat's forward pass in the final minute applied salt to the wound.

Luke Single gave Pat's a sniff of a comeback when he went in under the posts but Williams soon scored his second to make it 18-6.

The pace of the match began to slow drastically with 20 minutes to go as poor discipline became rife through both camps, but more so from the home side.

Kurt Hancock found himself put on report for an altercation with a Cowra opponent after making a tackle and Gordon responded a minute later with a penalty goal that took the margin out beyond three converted tries.

With eight minutes left Gordon had another easy shot on goal that pushed the score out to 22-6.

Garry Reilly grabbed a consolation try with three minutes to spare but it was little comfort for a blue and white side who produced one of their weakest performances of the season at the wrong time.

"They wanted it more than us. They were hungrier on the day," Pat's team staff member Craig White said.

"We need to go back to what we've been doing all year and to what got us here. This is still a good side but it's no use saying you've got a good side, you need to roll your sleeves up and be it, and they did it better than us today.

"There was no fluency. 30 penalties in the game is just ridiculous, you can't play off the back of any of that."

Earlier in the day, the Under 18s pulled off a remarkable comeback to win the Group 10 U18s major semi-final over Bathurst Panthers, 26 - 22.

COWRA MAGPIES 22 (Warren Williams 2, Ricky Whitton tries; Jeremy Gordon 2 penalty goals; Gordon 3 conversions) defeated ST PAT'S 12 (Luke Single, Garry Reilly tries; Reilly 2 conversions)