Luke Gale was the hero as Castleford held off a late fightback from St Helens to win through to their first Super League grand final.
Returning to the side just 16 days after having his appendix removed, the England halfback scored a try and kicked four goals to put his side into a what appeared to be a winning 20-10 lead after 64 minutes.
However, in a dramatic finish to an outstanding semi-final, Saints roared back with three tries in the last 10 minutes to edge in front before Gale kept his nerve to kick a last-minute penalty to send the game into golden-point extra-time.
He then demonstrated more composure to land the winning drop goal that earned his side a 23-22 victory that set up a first all-Yorkshire final for 12 years.
Castleford have become the seventh club to reach a grand final and will be favourites to become only the fifth team to win a title held by just four teams in the 21 years of Super League.
The Tigers were universally acknowledged as by far and away the best team in the league in 2017, finishing 17 points ahead of their fourth-placed opponents, but St Helens deserve enormous credit for their part in a remarkable game in which they outscored their hosts by five tries to three.
Gale says he was just doing his job after landing the drop goal.
"Wow," Gale said on Sky Sports. "It's hard to sum up, I'm emotional at the minute.
"It was an awesome game, I thought we'd blown it. It came down to the last second and that's my job to get those drop goals.
"It's pretty special being in a hospital bed two weeks ago thinking my season was over to this, but things happen for a reason."
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