The Admiral League campaign ended for Barry with a 33-3 defeat to Division One leaders St Joseph's.
Barry were always likely to find it hard going against table-topping St Joseph, with nine first-team players absent through injury, illness and unavailability.
The visitors duly completed a league double over the Bombers and remain unbeaten with just one game of their season to go.
For the second time in less than a month, Barry had to play a rearranged fixture with 14 men, with passive scrums from the start, and once again it meant defeat and a disappointing end to the Bombers’ season. It was an all too familiar tale of what might have been.
The margin of defeat was harsh on the Bombers, who got into scoring positions, but were either halted by St Joseph’s, or an error saw the chance go begging.
“Against top of the league, you cannot make mistakes,” said head coach Mike Morgan. “There was no dominating team out there. The difference was that when they were in a position to score, they finished.”
Three times Barry were held up over the line, and a close-range break by Aled Rees which saw him through and under the posts, was pulled back, apparently because of crossing - simply another one of many hard-to-fathom official decisions.
St Joseph’s were too often handed the initiative as Barry tried to force things when a little more patience -and another phase or two - might have paid dividends.
“In the first half, we hurt ourselves when we got into try-scoring positions, and through our errors, St Joseph’s got away,” said Morgan.
“I told the players at half-time, as I was a little frustrated, you have to respect a team at the top of the league enough so you don’t try to force things. We counted up so many errors. I think at least three of their tries came from our errors, so you are talking 15 to 21 points.”
Barry were reduced to 13 men by a yellow card towards the end of the first half, with St Joseph’s taking advantage to score their third try.
The visitors picked up three yellow cards in the second half - the last with the clock in the red - as Barry applied pressure on their line, but by then, the scoring had long been completed.
Scorers: St Joseph's: tries -Tom Calverley (4'), Thomas Rowlands (32'), Luke Alderwick (40'), Iwan Dawes (41'), Sam Hellard (58'); conversions – Dawes (32', 40', 41', 58').
Barry: penalty - Owen Rees (7')
Barry finish the season in 8th and comfortably above the bottom two, Rhiwbina and Porth Harlequins, who are relegated.
St Joseph's remain favourites for the Division One East Central title ahead of their final game at Penarth on April 26th - though they could still be caught by Abercynon, who finish their season at Llanishen on Saturday.
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Elsewhere in the Vale, Cowbridge are still in with a shout of promotion for Division Two after beating Ynysybwl 48-14.
They're fourth in the table but only a point behind St Albans, who have a game in hand before Cowbridge play their final game at home to Caerphilly on Thursday 30th April.
Dinas Powys must wait and see if they'll go up as Division Four champions after finishing their campaign with a 26-8 win at Tylorstown last Wednesday, followed by a 45-26 victory at Brackla on Saturday.
Their nearest rivals Ferndale still have three games left to play, as do third placed Pontyclun, who could yet deny Dinas back-to-back promotions.
And in the WRU Women's Championship, Old Penarthians returned from a lengthy break in action with a 27-22 victory at Haverfordwest.
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