Renouf's double puts Saints in final

And it was champions St Martin’s who won the day, moving into Saturday’s Doric Insurance Rawlinson Cup Final with last night’s 2-0 victory at the Track.

It did not require the vision of Nostradamus to identify that this first semi would be tight and it played out just that way, but it was played in good spirit and only 10 minutes had passed when Simon Geall’s influence and advocacy saved Ben Bullock an early yellow card.

Geall, the Saints skipper, was thanked long distance by the now Jose Alvarez-led North camp and, unsurprisingly, the veteran defender was as good as anyone on view.

In terms of striker comparisons, Lucas Meza was lively and effective, Danny Hale quiet in his first game against his recent championship winning teammates and Sam Murray well marshalled by the Geall-Gallie combo.

Steve Renouf rifled home a 27th minute penalty to give Saints the advantage and eight minutes later the same man doubled the lead.

At the other end Jason Martin made a good double save just on half time and after the interval North pressed hard, going close on several occasions.

Saints managed their position well, although they got lucky when Hale cracked a free kick against the bar and a colleague hit the post.