FINALS footy is all about taking your chances and for St Patrick's College, too many went begging this afternoon.

The Mackay school's Aaron Payne Cup campaign has come to an end at the hands of Kirwan State High School, to the tune of 38-4 in Townsville.

St Pat's coach Chad Buckby had steeled his side to start strong but as was the case in their previous encounter, Kirwan burst out of the blocks.

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Bears winger Dudley Dotoi had a double and Kirwan had three on the board before St Pat's finally found the line through James McGowen.

At 18-4, the visitors found life in attack with the wind at their backs and appeared to have scored again soon after when Ethan Sweet crashed over the line.

However the referee ruled a knock-on against the St Pat's second-rower, and from the next play Dotoi got on the outside of a Clay George linebreak to bring up his hat-trick before halftime.

Instead of taking all the momentum into the break, St Pat's instead was left staring down the barrel of a 20-point halftime deficit.

That 10-point swing proved costly in the second stanza as - even with the wind in their face - St Pat's dominated possession inside Kirwan's half.

Just as Iggy Park had done the week before, St Pat's starved the Bears of the football. However unlike Iggy Park, St Pat's was unable to capitalise on that dominance.

Twice the visitors hit the line only to be held up; thrice they forced repeat sets or an error early in Kirwan's set, only to be blunted in attack.

After weathering the storm from St Pat's, the Bears rediscovered their attacking mojo and put a stamp on the contest with three tries in the final 15 minutes.

Ragsy Wavik recorded a second-half double to make it four tries from two outings against St Pat's this season.

Kirwan's win sets up an all-Townsville Aaron Payne Cup grand final next week, after Ignatius Park knocked off The Cathedral College 18-10 in Mackay earlier today.

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KIRWAN 38 (D Dotoi 3, R Wavik 2, J Nanai, J Taia tries; H Taylor 5/7) d ST PATRICK'S COLLEGE 4 (J McGowen try; B Black 0/1 goals)