Randalstown kicked off in a game which was to become a territory battle, with both out halves setting out to pin the opposition back inside their own 22m line.

The 'Town team, still getting used to the heavy pitch, took the game to Ballyshannon, but found themselves getting disrupted at the breakdown, and as a result, turned over.

Randalstown's pack, with captain Dan Wilson leading from the front, worked tirelessly, however the first points of the match came from a breakaway try by the Ballyshannon number 12, which was easily converted.

This did not deter the 'town side, who continued to make the hard yards through their front 8 only to be frustrated by indecision and some basic handling errors.

The Ballyshannon side gained possession in midfield and launched an attack. Unfortunately the first up tackle was missed on the Ballyshannon number 12, who was then able to coast in below 'town's posts, making the score 14-0 to the home side.

'Town steadied the ship, and a determined line break by centre William Montgomery saw Ballyshannon come in from the side of the resulting ruck, giving away a kickable penalty. Out half Kyle Lyness did the needful and brought the score to 14-3 in favour of Ballyshannon.

In the dying moments of the first half, slick handling by the Randalstown backs released full back Vernon Thom down the right wing. He appeared to touch the ball down in the corner for a score, but the referee disallowed the try for a knock on.

The second half started as the first finished, with both sides kicking away a lot of possession. Randalstown maintained pressure on the Ballyshannon defence and eventually Sammy Hyndman released Neil Foster who had another fine game at number 8, again for the try to be disallowed, this time Hyndmans pass judged to have gone forward. Randalstown could not muster the try which had been on the cards for most of the game.

The pack should be pleased with their efforts overall and there was some excellent running from Ivan Foster in the centre and Chris Gamble on the left wing, as well as some great handling by William Montgomery in the centre and the increasingly reliable and versatile Thom playing out of position at full back.

This was not the team performance Randalstown wanted in the first league game of the season, and in fairness the defeat was against the run of play over the 80 minutes. Head coach Joe Graham did not labour the point at the end of the game instead encouraging everyone to make the effort to come to training on Tuesday night where he would hope to address some of the points he felt contributed to the defeat.