Shannon prevail by a single point despite a determined Malone fight back

Malone 18 v 19 Shannon (Courtesy of Ciaran Donaghy)

Malone’s woes at the bottom of Division 1B continued as they slumped to a seventh consecutive defeat and slip to the bottom of the table after going down 19-18 at Gibson Park to Shannon.

It was a game Jacque Benade side could have won as they were camped on the Shannon line in the last five minutes and centre Mark Gribben missed a penalty to the last kick of the game to steal it for Malone.

Malone took an early lead with a penalty Nathan Brown while Shannon out half Tadgh Bennett missed two attempts at goal.

Shannon took the lead on 24 minutes with a try from full back David Donavon.

Malone tried to move the ball across their own 22 from a scrum, Taylor Acheson’s attempted clearance was charged down by Donavon and he picked up and went over with Bennett converting.

Brown narrowed the gap to a point with a second penalty after Shannon were caught offside in front of their posts.

Two quick tries for Shannon just before half time changed the game.

Again Malone were trying to move the ball from deep but Michael Barker threw an intercept and centre Andrew Finn strolled over with Bennett converting.

A missed tackle in defence allowed winger Shaun Horgan to go over for an unconverted try to give Shannon a 19-6 half time lead.

Shannon had Finn sin binned on 65 metres and from the resulting penalty Malone opted for a scrum and from a push over Tom Patton touched down.

Malone got their second try with nine minutes remaining from Michael Barker which Gribben converted but they couldn’t force a winning score.