That's how St Pat's will be feeling after their 18-14 win over Dubbo Macquarie in Sunday's Western Under 21s semi-final.

The weekend's win at Barden Park may not have been the most clinical performance in attack from the Saints but what they might have lacked in execution they made up for with some critical defensive efforts.

Pat's did the bulk of their offensive work in the first half, putting on 18 straight points to take a 18-4 lead shortly after half-time.

The Raiders tried hard to pull a grand final berth back into their grasp and it took some late defensive stops in the last minutes of the match for the Saints to book their ticket to the decider.

Pat's coach Tyson Medlyn said it was a difficult game to reflect upon since neither side ever looked like delivering the knockout blow.

"Neither team really got a roll on and I don't think either side got a lot of momentum at any point," he said.

"They scored a great try in the corner to start and then we scored the exact same try coming down their end, but it was a game definitely played in quarters because when they'd get on a roll the quarter would end and then when we would get a roll on the quarter would end.

"There was never really an arm-wrestle, so to say. We beat them but I don't think that means we were necessarily better than them.

"They turned up ready to play and I think it just came down to those last couple of minutes where, with us up by four, they could have scored if they spread the ball a little wider. It could have been a completely different story so I can't take much away from the game aside from us sticking it out at the end and being able to get the win.

"There was a lot of good shape and a lot of good footy played. It could easily have been 30-nil to them or 30-nil to us. If you didn't know anything about rugby league then you'd be watching this game struggling to pick a side that you'd think was better."

Nicko Divis, Kyle Mawhinney, Tyler Colley and Cooper Nunan all scored for the blue and whites in the semi-final win.

Pat's will meet Dubbo CYMS in the grand final after the minor premier Fishies survived a scare of their own against the Forbes Magpies, coming away 22-16 winners after a tough match.

Medlyn said the Saints will need to be much better than their semi-final performance if they're to get the better of CYMS in the decider.

"We only scored off one play that we worked on from training, whereas the others came from falling off a tackle. It was similar for Macquarie. They made some cut out passes that stuck. We definitely have to be better against Dubbo CYMS," he said.

"They don't do anything flash but they don't turn over cheap balls either."

Pat's and CYMS drew 18-all when they met earlier this season at Apex Oval.