At the drinks break during the second innings of the major semi-final on Saturday, the Bowning Buffaloes were 3-45 in pursuit of the Yass Golf Club Cobras' total of 99.
Anthony O'Mara was set and looked in control, while Andy Henderson provided staunch support at Victoria Park.
As legspinner Chris Rawlinson had been struck by a leg injury early in the match, Cobras captain Ben Hutchinson threw the ball to young left arm orthodox bowler, Daniel Kemp, who began with a maiden over.
In his second over, and the first after drinks, Kemp trapped Henderson in front, LBW for a duck. Two balls later, he broke the game open with the wicket of Ben Downey, who was clean bowled.
Five overs into his spell, Kemp had taken four wickets for one run, and reduced the Buffaloes' promising chase to rubble.
At the end of the match, Kemp had 5-7 from his eight overs, and Bowning was all out for 76.
"Daniel Kemp bowled really well," Hutchinson said.
"That gave us a big boost, we were not lamenting our score and our position, but we knew we had to dig deep, and that made a big difference the first over after drinks."
It was a particularly crucial spell considering the Cobras' first innings score of 99 was not nearly enough in Hutchinson's eyes.
"We thought it was a good wicket, we knew we had to bowl well," he said.
"We really should've been looking at about 150-160, but they bowled really well. Beau [Walker] and [Anthony O'Mara] tied it right down, and I think they took [five] wickets between the two of them for about 30 runs."
Hutchinson (17), Rob Field (15), and Dave Field (12) were the highest scorers for the Cobras, and their early-innings contributions were crucial as the Cobras' lower order struggled.
Now through to the grand final in a fortnight, the Cobras will keep an eye on the two fairly serious injuries picked up by Rawlinson and Aaron Goode.
"[The week off will] be huge, we've got a lot of wounded old people," Hutchinson said.
"The average age of our team has got to be up around 30, 35. There's a couple of guys that are pretty sore and sorry."
While the Cobras and the Buffaloes faced off at Victoria Park on Saturday, the Dalton Dingos and Boorowa Crocs were embroiled in another semi-final clash at Joe O'Connor Park.
In the end, the Dingos emerged victorious, and will play the Buffaloes in the preliminary final on Saturday, March 7.
In the meantime, the Cobras will focus on their fielding ahead of the grand final.
It has been a consistent weak point throughout the season, and Hutchinson noted further room for improvement on Saturday.
"We dropped a couple of chances which is what we've been doing all year unfortunately," he said.
"Our fielding needs to step up a notch."
Should the Cobras make the required adjustments to their game ahead of the grand final, they will certainly be hard to beat.
The preliminary final between the Buffaloes and the Dingos will take place on Saturday, March 7, from 12.30pm at Victoria Park.
The grand final, between the Cobras and the winner of the preliminary final, is scheduled for March 14 at Victoria Park.
