THE scoreline may suggest otherwise but Garryowen were fully extended by Belfast Harlequins at Dooradoyle yesterday before eventually clinching the points.

Harlequins won't remain at the bottom of the table for much longer on the evidence of this battling display whereas Garryowen coach Paul Cunningham was left fully aware that his side needs a lot of tightening up if it is to harbour any hopes of challenging for AIB League honours for the second successive season.

Home supporters were neither impressed by the scoreline nor the manner in which their side performed in the wind-assisted opening half.

They had plenty of possession due to the efforts of Donal Sheehan and John O'Sullivan in the line-outs and their youthful front-row also held up well in the tight.

But there was little to enthuse over the inter-play between backs and forwards and many of the Garryowen attacks were far too lateral and lacking in a runner from deep to create any worthwhile angles.

In fairness, though, a Harlequins defence that had proved almost porous in some of their earlier matches in the campaign looked a whole lot better prepared and marshalled on this occasion.

They knuckled down to the job in impressive fashion and wouldn't have been unduly worried to find themselves 14 points behind at the break, basically hoping that the pack would have the measure of the opposition the longer the game went on.

The Harlequins defence caved in twice in the opening half. Early on, Garryowen got a good rumble moving and in spite of a doughty defence were able to force their way over for hooker Damien Varley to get the touchdown. Conor Kilroy converted.

Garryowen certainly couldn't be faulted for a lack of patience but if anything they overdid the phases and so there was a nice touch of irony when they eventually proved their point.

Clever scrum-half Gerry Hurley suddenly switched play to the narrow side and winger Kevin O'Riordan did exceptionally well to touch down inches inside the corner flag. Kilroy gave Garryowen an additional boost by adding the points with a great kick and it was then their turn to demonstrate their defensive qualities.

They were equal to the task with promising young hooker Varley hugely aggressive in the tackle, ably assisted by the arrival of replacement prop John Staunton.

Hurley was as wily as ever at the base of the scrum and played a key part in keeping Quins scoreless. Instead, a Kilroy penalty was the only score of an honestly contested second period.

GARRYOWEN C Kilroy; A O'Loughlin, K Hartigan, F Quaglia, K O'Riordan; C Doyle, G Hurley; L Og Casey, D Varley, R Brosnan, D Sheehan, E Mackey, J O'Sullivan, P Neville, P Malone Subs D Sherry for Malone, J Staunton for Casey, both 60 mins; E Hickey for Doyle, 64 mins

BELFAST HARLEQUINS M Kettyle; J Lowe, D Cave, J Reihana, G McLaughlin; N O'Connor, P Marshall; N Conlon, S Philpott, J Andres, F Rourke, L Stephenson, A Gillespie, R Devonshire, C McCarey Referee A Rolland (IRFU)