Cumbria will travel to Blackbrook, St. Helens, next Sunday with a serious chance of clinching the Tri Counties ARL Championship.

A stirring 42-16 victory over Yorkshire at Egremont on Sunday paved the way for a showdown with Lancashire next week-end.

Joint Cumbrian coach Les Ash said: “It was tight at half-time when we led 16-10 but we pulled away well and played some cracking rugby at times.”

It was really Cumbria’s performance in the second-half which clinched the game as they pulled well clear of the visitors.

Matthew Tyson had given Cumbria the lead after only five minutes and the conversion from skipper Matthew Bewsher gave the hosts a perfect start.

An unconverted try from Gavin Martin on 16 minutes extended the lead before Richard Dunham got over for an unconverted try for Yorkshire.

Cumbria’s third try came on 24 minutes when Sam Jones nipped over and this time Adam Kelly landed the extras.

But it was Yorkshire who had the last word of the half when Dunham scored his second try on the half hour and Aiden Scully converted.

Ten minutes into the second-half it was game on when the visitors drew level as Scully crossed and added the conversion.

It was in the final quarter that Cumbria really dominated and scored 26 unanswered points to wrap-up a convincing victory.

Danny Morrow started the points’ spree on the hour with a try which Kelly converted and four minutes later Martin went over for his second try, with Kelly again adding the extras.

Yorkshire were fading fast under relentless Cumbria pressure and two more tries in the last ten minutes sealed a fine performance.

Kelly had kicked a 70th minute penalty before Martin completed his hat-trick and Luke Cresswell crossed for the final score two minutes from time. That last try came after the ball had been switched right across the field.

Kelly converted both.

Seaton prop forward Tom Curwen was named man of the match for a hard-working performance in the front row but there were other notable contributions.

The forwards to a man did a lot of tackling in defence and supporting in attacks. Perry Singleton put in numerous prominent breaks while hat-trick hero Martin was outstanding with his backing-up play.