DESPITE drawing their fifth league game in a row St Patrick's Athletic are still three points clear at the top of the premier division following this four-goal thriller at St Mel's Park on Saturday night.
Athlone took a shock lead three minutes before the end of the first half when Warren Parkes seized on some poor defending by the visitors.
However, the Dubliners were level nine minutes into the second half when Paul Osam finished Eddie Gormley's free kick to the net with a glancing header.
A minute later, Paul Campbell should have made it two for St Patrick's, but he was unlucky to see his effort hit the crossbar.
However, just before the hour St Patrick's took the lead through a Gormley penalty kick after Ricky O'Flaherty had been pulled down in the box by Barry Murphy.
The home side struck back through Parkes in the 65th minute. He received the ball from a quickly-taken free kick and struck a brilliant 25-yard effort to the top left corner of the St Patrick's goal.
