Derek ​Suffern’s delight at early progress by young Queen’s side

The Limerick side had led 25-8 before Queen’s scored five tries in the autumn sunshine, coach Derek Suffern was delighted to get the five points.

“The boys are ecstatic and very happy with the result but maybe not as happy with their first-half performance but to show that resilience when they went ahead early doors in the second half I thought the boys showed great character and played some really good stuff in that second half and that will give them lots of confidence moving forward into the next block,” said Suffern. “We started pretty well in the game and then just slipped off and, to be fair to Garryowen, they took their chances very well in the first half.

“We regrouped at half-time and were a bit more like ourselves in the second half and played with a bit of tempo and better flow in our attacking shape and scored some nice tries, a couple of them opportunist but we’ll certainly take it.”

The victory took the students into the top four and they are adapting well to their first-ever season in the second tier of the AIL.

“We won’t really sure what to expect when we started playing in this division but we are three games in and we have certainly been very competitive in every fixture and won two of them,” he said. “Some of the young guys that are just out of school are performing very well and I suppose the really pleasing thing is, physically, we are coping very well and it is exciting times for us.

“We’re happy with bits and pieces with our performances, I think with a lot of new players in it will take us a bit of time to gel and we are slowly doing that on and off the pitch.”

A Jonny Hunter try and James Humphreys penalty gave Queen’s an early 8-0 lead. Garryowen hit back with two tries, one was converted and a penalty to lead 15-8 at the break.

The visitors scored two quick unconverted tries after the break before Queen’s hit back with a five-try salvo. Harry Long and Humphreys went over with the out half converting his own try.

Hunter’s second try, which Humphreys converted, put the students in the lead before converted scores from Ryan Davies and Peter Heasley put the game beyond Garryowen.

City of Armagh secured their first-ever win in the top flight of the AIL as they beat Division 1A leaders Shannon 25-13 in Limerick.

Kiwi out half Brayden Laing landed a penalty and converted tries from Neil Faloon and Timmy McNiece to help Armagh into a 17-3 half-time lead. Laing landed another penalty before a Shea O’Brien try sealed the win.

Ballynahinch suffered a second defeat in three games going down 43-19 at Lansdowne.

In Division 2A, Ballymena beat Old Crescent 34-10, Banbridge lost 46-40 to Barnhall while Malone stay bottom of the table after a 31-19 home defeat against UL Boh’s.

Instonians have opened up a four-point gap at the top of Division 2B after a third consecutive bonus point win by beating Rainey 61-28. Belfast Harlequins beat Dungannon 27-26.

In 2C, Clogher have maximum points after a 26-15 win at Midleton with Bangor and Omagh both losing out.