THEY had the faintest of finals chances but they have now officially come to an end for the St Pat’s Group 10 under 18s following their 44-20 defeat to the Mudgee Dragons at Carrington Park.
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The Saints fell to their third loss in four matches as the now third-placed Dragons looked in control throughout Saturday’s match.
The Dragons once again proved too good for the Saints as they took another win to go with the 30-16 one they picked up at home earlier in the season.
Just like that previous meeting ,Mudgee’s Ethan Butler managed to bag himself a double.
Saints coach Daniel Finn said his team once again played well in patches but couldn’t string together an hour of solid football.
“They got off to a really good start and got out by 20 points. We played our way back into it over the middle stages but then in the dying stages they got a great run home,” he said.
“We played a lot better than last week though. They were quite entertaining and managed to put on a few points as well.”
A tough opening half got even harder to deal with for the hosts when Harrison McCarthy was given a spell in the sin bin for a shoulder charge 20 minutes in.
It was the second sin bin in just three games for the second rower.
Yet Pat’s were able to get themselves on the board despite being a player down and carried all the momentum going into the break despite being down 20-6.
“We came into half-time actually feeling like we had Mudgee on the ropes,” Finn said.
“But Mudgee being Mudgee managed to stick it out and get themselves back into the game.”
Things don’t get any easier for the young Pat’s outfit who travel to take on the undefeated Orange Hawks this week, then another finals-bound side in Orange CYMS to wrap up their season.
“I’ve been with this team now for 11 years, since they were under 8s, and this is the first ever time that they’ve failed to make the finals,” Finn said.
“I asked them after the game, though, to make sure they stick with me until the end of the season.”
MUDGEE DRAGONS 44 (Ethan Butler 2, Jay Orth, Jaylen Huia, Jeff Wright, Terrence Roach, Jack Beasley tries; Beasley 5, Sam Joyce 3 goals) defeated ST PAT’S 20 (Connor Hotham, Riley Cheshire, Bryton Thackery, Brodie Samuel tries; Hotham 2 goals)
