Galwegians top Division 1

GALWEGIANS proved there is life without their key men when they surged to the top of the AIB League with a convincing win over Belfast Harlequins in Deramore on Saturday.

None of the Connacht stars were available and the list of non-appearers included their most consistent scorer, Eric Elwood.

Still, Galwegians had enough in reserve to secure a well-deserved 24-14 victory.

Harlequins will be disappointed at not having taken goal-kicking chances in the first half. Instead, they opted to kick for position in the hope of scoring tries to please the fans.

Each time, they came away with nothing and disaster struck when Richie Weir was sent off in the 30th minute.

Down to 14 men against an aggressive Galwegians pack, there was nothing the home side could do to turn the tables and Eric Peters was the star of the show for the visitors.

The victory puts Galwegians into pole position in the league and they took advantage of the Ballymena slip up at Stradbrook.

The Ulster side would have pushed themselves into the lead with even a draw but Blackrock secured a valuable 22-19 win that now puts them into fourth spot in the table.

Ballymena were leading 19-15 but then lost Dean MacCartney and Matt Waterhouse both of them yellow carded and Emmet Farrell dashed over for a try that he converted himself.