HIGHFIELD and Monkstown remain together in pole position after surviving close calls at home. Promotion is pretty much unavoidable for both clubs, so the only item of interest is who goes up as champions.

At Model Farm Road George O'Sullivan and Terry Dillon combined to squeeze Highfield home by two points against Bohemians. A Martin Cahill try for the Limerick club left them 6-5 down at the break, but a penalty from Ollie Moran was the best they could manage in the second half.

Monkstown had marginally more room to spare against DLSP at Sydney Parade where a Paul Ryan try proved decisive.

The bizarre thing about this division is that Galwegians, with no wins from seven matches, are the only team effectively out of the promotion race. They lost again on Saturday, this time to the students of UCC who took full advantage of their opportunity to pursue second division rugby. Although the first half was scoreless. UCC ran the show after the break with a John Kelly try getting them started on 50 minutes, and Ronan O'Gara completing the job with three penalties.

Skerries' hopes were dented somewhat in Derry, where the home side had a Neil Stewart try to thank for setting up their 13-9 win. This moves Skerries out of the promotion zone and ties them with UCD, who couldn't manage a try against Waterpark in Ballinakill. Karl Phelan and Donagh Cronin touched down for the winners who finally got some reward for their efforts.

Sligo almost managed the same thing at Strandhill where they ran Trinity, leaders of the fourth division, closer than anybody imagined. Another Michael McDonagh try secured the points for Trinity who keep their noses in front of Portadown. This pair have made the running from the start, and while Corinthians predictably put it up to Portadown in Galway, they were unable to complete the upset.

There was good news for Armagh who literally didn't have to break sweat to collect both points against UCG; the students have retired from the competition under an avalanche of points conceding an average of 52 per match can't have been much fun. Their counterparts at Queen's have been faring altogether better and a solo display from Bertie Styles against Collegians keeps them in contention, while Ards secured their third win of the campaign with three tries against CIYMS.

Carlow qualified for this year's semi-final of the Provincial Towns' Cup with a convincing 24-10 win over Dundalk. Feature of the game was the scoring feat of outhalf Harry Sothern, who scored all of Carlow's points, seven penalties and a dropped goal.