St Helens head off Halifax's challenge

Martin Gleeson won the battle of the young centres as the Challenge Cup holders St Helens yesterday held off a spirited challenge from Halifax to win 26-20 and earn a place in the last four where they face Leeds, who beat Wakefield 46-10 on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Gleeson demonstrated his potential with two tries, his first for the club, to win his duel with Stuart Donlan. The youngsters enhanced their reputations in a free-flowing game at The New Shay.

St Helens began strongly, but were forced to hang on after Donlan's 64th-minute converted try brought the home side back to within six points.

The holders provided an early glimpse of their danger out wide when they engineered an overlap for the left winger Darren Albert to run in a try less than three minutes into the game. They were again at their best on 18 minutes when Gleeson touched down and just before the break Sean Long claimed a third try.

A midfield burst and long cut-out pass from Shayne McMenemy enabled Donlan to get Colum Halpenny over for a try and Jamie Bloem gave his side renewed hope when he forced his way over. Penalties from Danny Tickle brought Halifax to 22-14, but Gleeson's second try and Long's fifth goal looked to have booked Saints' semi-final place until Donlan won the race to Andrew Dunemann's kick to the line.

Castleford ended Doncaster's hopes of reaching the semi-finals for the first time with a 32-14 victory, but only after a second-half scare. The Dragons stormed back from 22-0 down after 16 minutes to cut the deficit to 22-14 10 minutes into the second half. The Super League side finally put the game beyond the Northern Ford Premiership side's reach with late tries from Jon Wells and Michael Eager.