After a very promising start Buccaneers conceded 17 points in the space of six minutes to St Mary's at Ballinasloe on Saturday. And still the Athlone-Ballinasloe combination came back strongly and were unlucky not to share the spoils.
The home pack gave the visitors a very unhappy time with their powerful props Martin Cahill and Jimmy Screene prominent both in the set scrums and around the field. Man of the match Cahill had one of his best games while Malcolm O'Kelly in the lineout and the industrious captain, Victor Costello proved St Mary's greatest threats.
Seventeen points in the closing six minutes of the opening half, including tries for Peter McKenna and John McWeeney, saw St Mary's lead 20-3 at the interval.
Inside two minutes of the resumption Buccaneers scored a Justin Meagher try and had their second in the 28th minute from Jimmy Screene. Sustained pressure failed to bring them an equalising third try but even though hit by serious injuries the home side can be proud of their performance.
St Mary's never settled and relied on the kicking ability of Mark McHugh as well as capitalising on a number of Buccaneers mistakes.
ST MARY'S: P McKenna; D Hickie, A Conboy, M McHugh, J McWeeney; E Hekenui, E McCormack; P Tucker, P Smyth, D Clare, E Keane, M O'Kelly, F Fitzgerald, S Jennings, V Costello.
BUCCANEERS: O Grennan; M Devine, D Yapp, J Meagher, T Robinson; S Allnutt, C Keane;, J Screene, J McVeigh, M Cahill, K Barrett, C Brownlie, I Dillon, E Brennan, C Rigney.
Referee: T Redmond (IRFU).
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