The Red Devils' disappointment was palpable as the final whistle blew, as they were left to wonder what could have been after setting themselves up for a memorable victory only to fall short 27-20.

Reminisce of their elimination final against Narrabri two years ago the Red Devils came out firing, running in three tries in the opening 20 minutes to lead Pirates 15-nil.

But unlike then they were unable to go on with it on Saturday, Sam Bowden squaring the game up at 20-all with just under 10 to play before Amos Ioasa completed Pirates' fightback when he darted over from the back of the ruck with two-and-a-half minutes remaining.

The manor of the tries were insult to injury for the Red Devils with both the result of a dominant scrum or rolling maul - all five of Pirates tries were in fact.

One of the Red Devils' strengths all season, coach Dan Martin felt losing their edge, in the set piece particularly, was a crucial factor in the result.

"We lost our tempo in our set piece and losing that set piece in the scrum really came against us there," he said.

Early on it was business as usual but as the game wore on they struggled even on their own feed at times, and in that final 10 minutes seemed almost powerless to stop Pirates.

They couldn't have wished for a better start with Pirates failing to kick the 10 from the kick-off.

From there the Red Devils spent virtually the next 20 minutes camped in Pirates half. For the better part of 10 of those they had a two-man advantage with Collins brothers Sam and Andrew sin-binned within a minute of each other, and looked to really turn the screws through their forwards.

Powerhouse number eight Sanimo Navatu crashed over for a double, the Red Devils' rolling maul really causing Pirates some problems.

The home side were also prepared to throw the ball around and showed they are no one-trick pony with their third try, Brad Swain on the end of some slick work from the backs.

But almost as quickly as the Red Devils had built their lead it was erased, two tries in the last 10 minutes cutting their advantage back to five points at the break.

The Red Devils did kick away again midway through the half through Oscar Hunt but any momentum from that was lost straight away with Pirates hitting back immediately.

Those little mental lapses is something that have plagued the Red Devils for much of the second round, and hurt them.

"The guys just went quiet and stopped communicating, and then once we stop communicating we fall in a heap," Martin said.

"We've done that every week since basically the last time we played Pirates."

"We just went quiet for a good 15-20 minute period there and let them back into the game."

They were getting isolated and turned over at the breakdown, and were a bit passive in defence which enabled Pirates to build momentum.

"Our boys weren't getting off the line for a little bit in defence which allowed them to come forward," Martin said.

"They've got a very simple structured game and we allowed them to get across the gain line."

He also noted that Pirates were very good at capitalising on their errors and felt their finals experience was telling.

"It's a huge thing when you've got a number of seasoned finalists in your squad that can just know where to go and what to do," he said.

He was though ultimately proud of what his side achieved this season, a semi-finals appearance looking a long way off when they lost their opening two games to Narrabri and Inverell.

It wasn't all gloom for the Red Devils with their second grade side snatching victory in the final minutes of their minor semi-final against Barraba/Gwydir.

Russell Johnston was somewhat of an unlikely hero for the home side after they scored off a rolling maul to make it 17-all with three minutes remaining.

With regular kicker Josh Dowse on the bench, Johnston was handed the kicking duties and the prop made the most of his moment, potting the ball between the posts from about 15 metres in from touch to put the Red Devils in front 19-17.