THE first inter-provincial Championship game of the season was abandoned as a draw with neither captain backing their team to force a result.

Leinster Lightning skipper John Mooney and his North West Warriors counterpart Andy McBrine surprisingly shook hands at 2.30pm, four hours before the scheduled close, despite the excellent Clontarf ground drying out after a morning of heavy rain.

Even a 4.15pm start would have left the Warriors needing 209 in 35 overs and while Mooney insisted the shorter game would have favoured the Warriors, surely McBrine snatched his hand off at being offered the draw after Lightning overturned a first innings deficit of 159 after the Warriors were again on the end of a backlash on day two.

It was familiar territory for the Warriors in this fixture. Last season they gave up commanding first innings positions by conceding last wicket stands of 93 and 134 and on Wednesday Fintan McAllister and Bill Coghlan put on 196 for the second wicket, a record partnership for any wicket in the Championship.

Andy McBrine used nine bowlers on an increasingly tiring day in the field when the Warriors sent down 104 overs while the Lightning batsmen helped themselves to 365 runs for the loss of just five wickets. Indeed the only wicket that fell to a bowler in the first 80 overs was a run out, when McAllister's change of call left nightwatchman Max Sorensen stranded.

That only let in Coghlan, who may not be the flashiest opener in the country but he certainly accumulates, and he made the Warriors pay for a missed chance at second slip when he was on 27, Graeme McCarter the unlucky bowler.

The Clontarf batsman went on to bring up his 50 from 78 balls and he reached his century in style with his second six, to go with 12 fours. His second 50 took 101 balls but that was the cue to accelerate and he hit another two fours off McBrine before Craig Young struck in the first over with the new ball, Coghlan's attempted pull shot giving wicket-keeper Ricky-Lee Dougherty a simple catch.

At the other end, McAllister had been patience personified - showing the Warriors how to play a three-day innings. Even after 245 balls he was still 10 short of his century and Young, in his second over with the second new ball ensured he wouldn't get any closer, finding the edge from another pull shot.