St George Illawarra charged into the top eight with 36-16 win over the North Queensland Cowboys in their NRL game at Dairy Stadium Stadium.

The Dragons first win in Queensland since the merger between St George and Illawarra all but ended North Queensland's finals hopes, and was built on a two-try burst just before halftime.

After a tight first half and with the teams locked at six-all, St George lock Michael Howell intercepted a Kevin Campion pass in his quarter.

The lock did not have the speed to race the length of the field but found centre Mark Gasnier who took the ball 75m to score.

Mark Riddell's conversion made it 12-6 with two minutes left before the break but the Dragons were not finished scoring for the first half.

They went the length of the field with Ben Hornby running off a Brett Firman pass to score just before the siren.

Riddell's conversion gave them a handy 18-6 halftime lead which was extended four minutes into the second half by a penalty goal again from Riddell.

The Cowboys briefly fought back when captain Paul Bowman scored a try from a Chris Sheppard kick which was fumbled by Hornby.

The Cowboys briefly looked a chance, but Gasnier's second try in the 59th minute for a left foot Firman grubber made it 24-10 and secured the two points for the Dragons.

St George then went about exercising some of their north Queensland demons with tries to Chris Leikvoll and Brent Kite to make 36-10.

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