Duncan Weir had a good night with the boot

DTH van der Merve's try and eight points from the boot of Duncan Weir gave Glasgow a 13-3 half-time lead, with Dan Parks providing the hosts' sole response. Parks and Weir traded penalties in the second period before substitute Craig Ronaldson reduced the deficit to 16-12.

However, the Warriors' stand-off secured the win with his fourth three-pointer. The Irish province went into the game at the bottom of the table, having won just one match, while the visitors had secured five victories out of six league games.

And the Warriors were quick out of the blocks as DTH van der Merwe touched down, with Weir converting, to give them an early 7-0 lead.

Although the hosts hit back through the accurate boot of Parks, successive penalties from Glasgow's stand-off increased their advantage to 10 points. Connacht's pivot had a chance to reduce the arrears at the interval but his effort missed and Gregor Townsend's men went into the break 13-3 ahead.

As in the first period, the Scottish outfit made a bright start to the second half but were soon under pressure as Pat Lam's team surged forward. However, Parks' three-pointer was all they to show for that period of play and Weir soon reasserted the visitors' authority on proceedings with one of his own.

Ronaldson then came off the bench to kick the Irish side to within losing bonus-point territory once more. Connacht increased the intensity and tempo, and Ronaldson was given another opportunity to reduce the arrears further, which the replacement pivot duly took.

But, after Mata Fifita was yellow carded, Weir added a late penalty to complete the win.

Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend was delighted with the victory ahead of a three-week international break.

He said: "As we had a number of players missing tonight it was always going to be a challenge but the players that came in did a fantastic job.

"I felt we didnt have enough possession in the first-half but the effort that went into the second-half when we were playing into the wind was excellent.

Last weekend the Warriors lost their first league game at home to Munster and Townsend was happy to get back to winning ways on the west coast of Ireland this evening.

He added: "We said when we'd won our first five games that it was a long way until the end of the season and one defeat doesn't knock you out of contention.

"There are four or five teams quite close at the top of the league but with a three-week break for internationals it was great to get that win.

"We'll be near the top of the table after this weekend's games so when we come back in after a week off we can prepare for our next game with a bit of confidence."