St Mary's lose way in the West

A great start, a fiery pack and a splendid defence were the Buccaneers' ingredients for their fully deserved win over St Mary's at Ballinasloe on Saturday. Buccaneers' third successive home win in their first year in Division One was by far their best display and attracted a crowd of over 2,000.

Their skipper Brian Rigney opened the scoring with a try in the ninth minute. After a short penalty taken by Simon Allnut and with the support of the pack, Rigney crossed near the corner. Allnut added a penalty in the 22nd minute after wing forward Eoin Brennan had blocked down a Conor McGuinness kick.

The home side, who camped incessantly in the St Mary's half, wasted a number of chances as Allnut failed to get his kicking act together and winger Ray Southam knocked on with the line at his mercy after a great penetrating run.

Four minutes into the second half, prop Martin Cahill surged for the line and when he was brought down, the resultant penalty was converted by Allnut. St Mary's, who really never got their act together until then, decided to adopt a do-or-die effort and there was some great attacking rugby, particularly by centre Ray McIlreavy and full-back Kevin Nolan. The pressure eventually paid off in the 51st minute when Nolan crossed at the corner for his side's only try which was converted by Fergal Campion. Four minutes later, the out-half was again on target to put the minimum margin between the sides.

While the Buccaneers pack was nothing short of awesome, all three Rigney brothers had their special moments and the covering and all-round performance by number eight Martyn Steffart was top class. Among the backs, the committed tackling of Mike Devine, Simon Allnutt and Eamon Molloy was also a factor in the victory. Victor Costello was St Mary's best forward while McGuinness always looked dangerous at scrum-half.

Buccaneers: R Lee; M Devine, E Molloy, O Cobbe, R Southam; S McIvor, S Allnut; J Screene, J McVeigh, M Cahill, B Rigney, Donal Rigney, Des Rigney, E Brennan, M Steffart. Replacement: C Rigney for Des Rigney (32 mins).

St Mary's College: K Nolan; J McWeeney, P McKenna, R McIlreavy, P Lane; F Campion, C McGuinness; J Maher, P Smith, P Coyle, S Jameson, D Burke, T Brennan, M Cuddihy, V Costello. Replacements: I Bloomer for Brennan, E Byrne for Coyle.

Referee: A Watson (Ulster).