CROSS Keys just failed in their attempt to complete one of the great WRU National Cup comebacks at the Talbot Athletic Ground this afternoon, as they again missed out on a place in the final.

Pontypridd looked home and hosed when Ceri Sweeney converted Joe Davies’ try to leave Keys trailing 39-16 midway through the second half.

But three tries in four minutes – Rhys Fitzgerald, Matthew Powell and Joe Goodchild crossed – saw Keys cut the deficit from 23 points to only two.

Twice they got into positions to go on and finding a winning score but turned the ball over on both occasions.

And Pontypridd breathed a huge sigh of relief when Sweeney slotted the last of his three penalties with virtually the final kick of the game.

It was a crazy climax to a semi-final that only looked to have one winner after Pontypridd touched down twice in quick succession just before the interval.

For Keys, cup winners in 2012, it was another semi-final loss at the Aberavon venue - they were beaten 21-20 by Carmarthen Quins at the same stage of the competition 12 months ago.

Pontypridd had been dealt an early blow when second row Lee Evans hobbled off to be replaced by Sean Moore.

Keys took the lead soon after that with Prosser landing the first of three penalties in the opening period.

A good hit from Keys wing Nathan Trowbridge on Davies, who was superb throughout, forced the Pontypridd speedster to hold on to the ball on the floor too long.

But Sweeney then levelled the scores after Keys were caught offside.

The Keys response was immediate but a turnover followed by a knock-on allowed Paul John’s men to break downfield.

Possession was moved to Dale Stuckey on the left flank and the winger looked to be in for the try before a last-ditch Powell tackle saved Keys.

There were a couple more mistakes from Keys which didn’t help their cause, although Prosser’s measured kicking saw them get good field position in the Pontypridd 22.

Number-eight Hemi Barnes was penalised for not releasing the ball in his own 22 and Prosser made him pay with a second penalty.

The opening try of the encounter arrived on 23 minutes when a flowing move down the Keys right ended with Sweeney taking Stuckey’s pass to scamper over under the posts.

Sweeney’s conversion put his side 10-6 in front.

Keys thought they had responded three minutes later.

Centre Phil Williams made the initial break but the moved looked to have broken down when his pass to Powell wasn’t accurate enough.

However, Keys maintained possession and good play by both second rows resulted in Greg Woods’ troops setting up camp on the Pontypridd try line.

One of the forwards went for the dive over the whitewash but, having appeared to award the try, the referee, having consulted with his assistant, deemed the ball had been held up.

Keys, however, didn’t have long to wait for a try.

A pin-point Prosser cross-kick found its target in Powell and he comfortably caught the ball to score. Prosser converted to put Keys 13-10 up.

Pontypridd then stepped up a gear and, after some staunch defending, an inside pass from Sweeney to Mitch Auger saw the prop crash over.

Sweeney had a hand in the next Pontypridd try three minutes later.

From his initial dart, the ball went left and Cameron Lewis sold the Keys defence a dummy before powering to the line. Sweeney added the extras for a 22-13 lead.

Prosser narrowed the gap with another penalty on the half-time whistle but Keys shot themselves in the foot seconds after the restart.

A Prosser up and under was poorly chased by Keys and Davies was allowed to evade several tacklers, make a clean break, and then offload to Dafi Davies.

He went over and Sweeney’s conversion made it 29-16.

Former Wales fly-half Sweeney was on song with the boot once more and the game appeared to be over when Keys full-back Leon Andrews’ kick was charged down by Davies who crossed. The extras were added.

Pontypridd replacement Dane Blacker would have inflicted more pain on Keys had the pass he taken not been forward.

Gary Williams was yellow-carded to see Pontypridd reduced to 14 men and the numbers should have been evened up but Tom Lampard got away with one when he appeared to flip Moore off his feet.

Then the fightback began.

Pontypridd spilled the ball in the Keys half, Barney Nightingale picked up and surged downfield, fellow replacement Fitzgerald took his offload and scored.

Out of the blue, an attack down the left produced a second score for Powell, and with their tails up, Keys did it again with Goodchild just getting the ball down despite Williams’ best efforts.

Keys sensed victory was there for the taking but having got into the Pontypridd twice in quick succession they ceded possession on both occasions, the latter seeing skipper Scott Matthews pinged for holding on to the ball.

And with the pressure eased, Pontypridd got into Keys territory and Sweeney made it safe with another three-pointer.

Scorers, Pontypridd: tries – C Sweeney, M Auger, C Lewis, D Davies, J Davies; cons – C Sweeney (4); pens – C Sweeney (3)

Cross Keys: tries – M Powell (2), R Fitzgerald, J Goodchild; cons – J Prosser (4); pens – J Prosser (3)

Pontypridd: G Williams; J Davies (C Hall 73), C Lewis, D Lockyer (capt), D Stuckey; C Sweeney, W Evans (D Blacker 62); J Popple (L Bodman 74), L Belcher (H Dowden 64), M Auger (S May 74), L Evans (S Moore 4), C Dicomidis, D Davies, R Shellard, H Barnes (L Young 76). Reps not used: L K Williams.

Cross Keys: L Andrews; M Powell, L Barnett (B Nightingale 73), P Williams, N Trowbridge (J Goodchild 54); J Prosser, J Leadbeater (O Leonard 54); L Smout (C Hewlett 44), D Hughes (R Jones 62), R Cornock (C Coleman 39), D Hodge (T Lampard 44), S Andrews, A Powell (R Fitzgerald 44), S Matthews (capt), I Jones.

Referee: Dan Jones

Argus star man: Matthew Powell (Cross Keys)