Battling Wakefield Wildcats went down to cup-winners St Helens in a storming encounter at Knowsley Road.
Although Saints showed some classy touches, Trinity were left to rue wasting almost a dozen scoring chances.
Trinity started brightly and were rewarded for some enterprising play with a second-minute penalty, converted by Jamie Rooney. Not satisfied with that, Rooney's clever kick then caused panic in the home ranks, allowing James Evans to combine with Jeffries to send Jason Demetriou over. Rooney missed the relatively easy conversion but Wakefield were well on top. The tempo of the game was lost on 14 minutes when Saints prop Mick Fozzard went down in the tackle, with play held up for five minutes when he was carried off on a stretcher.
Trinity's defence finally cracked on 23 minutes when a bustling run from Keiron Cunningham from dummy half was supported by centre Jamie Lyon who drew the would-be tacklers before sending Paul Wellens in. Lyon's goal made it all square.
Rooney missed another chance and ruthless Saints made them pay as Sean Long sent big Paul Anderson crashing through. Lyon was on his shoulder to score the try.
Lyon's goal gave them a six-oint lead which was soon extended when Lee Gilmour polished off a fine move on the stroke of half-time to make it 16-6 at the break.
Trinity were finally rewarded for their efforts when Adam Watene crashed over on 55 minutes with Roby's goal cutting the deficit to four points.
But Saints countered and cancelled that out when Long's kick wide was collected calmly by Adie Gardner who touched down.
A rush of blood from Michael Korkidas finished Trinity off as the prop was sent off after rubbing his head in Lyon's face. Leon Pryce immediately forced his way over with Lyon's goal giving Saints a 26-12 lead. Lyon added a penalty and Gardner scored a converted try.
St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Lyon, Gilmour, Meli, Pryce, Long, Fozzard, Cunningham, P. Anderson, Sculthorpe, V. Anderson, Hooper. Substitutes: Roby, Graham, Fa'asavalu, Bennett.
Wakefield Trinity: Halpenny, Demetriou, Evans, Atkins, Tadulala, Rooney, Jeffries, Korkidas, Obst, Watene, Henderson, Solomona, Betham. Substitutes: M Field, Elima, Latu, March.
Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington).