Losing in a grand final qualifier is tougher.

But, losing by three runs against a rival when you had it in the bag for all money, that really hurts.

For Cavaliers' young gun Bailey Ferguson - who registered his second ton of the season on Sunday - the loss against Orange City was one of the tougher ones his side has had to deal with.

"It's really hard to swallow just because of the situation we were in," Ferguson said.

"We were in a great position with Harry and I out in the middle... I really wanted to be not out.

"We bat so deep. We've got Angus Cumming at nine and on any other team he'd be at six. We back our team any day of the week. That's what made the loss so hard."

The minor premiers were chasing 203 and at 3-169, they were odds on to get the job done. However, a couple of good deliveries from Ed Morrish and Shaun Grenfell saw Cavaliers lose back-to-back wickets, drastically changing the dynamic of the game.

"Ed bowled a good spell," Ferguson said. "Wesley Lummis got us close but we fell three runs short."

Although the result hurts, Ferguson knows there's no point dwelling on it for too long and says his side has to focus on its task against St Pat's Old Boys where a win would give them another shot at Orange City in the grand final.

"We need to focus on building partnerships through the middle," Ferguson said.

"They've got a pretty good bowling line-up so we need to get through those opening spells and try for a total of 300 or 350.

"If we don't bat first, we need to get some wickets early and apply pressure. We've got high hopes for the match."

As for a potential clash with City - a meeting that's become extremely frequent in the last few finals series - Ferguson's happy Cavaliers got their loss out of the way sooner rather than later and is content to go into the grand final with an extra match under their belt.

"It's better off to lose now and go into the grand final as underdogs," he said.