A missed penalty conversion in wet and slippery conditions at Callendar Park on Saturday saw Innisfail Leprechauns A Grade side snatch a nail-biting two point victory from reigning premiers Mossman-Port Douglas Sharks to kick off their 2019 CDRL campaign.
Aaron Jolly scored a double while tries were also scored by Jackson Laza, Chris Galea and Dan Sagigi.
Jolley had a near-perfect kicking record by booting four out of the five conversions.
Two tries were scored by Matthew Gibuma, while Demilio Denman, Stanley Anau and Mareko Daniel with four out five conversions slotted by Mareko Daniel.
Leprechauns A Grade coach Leon Hallie said it was good to get the 30-28 win after a poor start.
"Our boys didn’t handle the wet and slippery conditions very well, however once we got on track with what we planned to do, we got ourselves back into the game but nearly left it too late," Hallie said.
In the Reserve Grade match between the two sides, Innisfail proved too strong for Mossman again, this time claiming a 22-14 victory at the fulltime siren.
Elsewhere in the region, Tully Tigers went down 28-26 to Ivanhoes at Bill Wakeham Park at Babinda in their A Grade match.
With 30 minutes left in the game, Tully were trailing by 20-16 in a physical encounter.
Ivanhoes head coach, Jono Zangrande, said the A Grade players were very resilient.
"We played with 12 men for the entire second half and only had two left on the bench," Zangrande said.
The Tigers prevailed over Ivanhoes in Reserve Grade with a 28-12 victory.
Ivanhoes Under 18s played a trial match against Innisfail Leprechauns where the Knights proved too strong with a 40-14 result.
At Vico Oval, Kangaroos dished out a bruising 48-6 defeat to Yarrabah, while in Reserve Grade, Kangaroos defeated Yarrabah 34-10.
Despite a spirited fight right to the end, Yarrabah Seahawks Under 18s side went down to Cairns Kangaroos by 28-20.
At Alley Park in Gordonvale, Southern Suburbs A Grade went down to Cairns Brothers by 26-24 on the buzzer after leading for almost the entire game.
Southern Suburbs Under 18 side went down to Cairns Brothers 60-10, with a few top players still to return.
In Reserve Grade, Suburbs went down 24-22 to Cairns Brothers in a thrilling clash.
Atherton Roosters hosted their Tableland rivals the Mareeba Gladiators at Mungalli Creek Dairy Stadium on a very wet field where a great crowd witnessed local derby footy action.
After leading by 26-6 at halftime, Atherton's A Grade side went on to notch up a convincing 36-14 victory over Mareeba.
The Atherton Roosters Under 18s also defeated Mareeba 36-4, while in Reserve Grade, the Roosters were pipped at the post by Mareeba in a low scoring 12-10 affair.
In Round 1, Edmonton Storm had the bye.
...
In Round 2 fixtures this weekend, Ivanhoes will host Mossman Port-Douglas at Smithfield, Innisfail will travel away to clash with Mareeba, Atherton will be at home against Edmonton while Tully Tigers will take on Kangaroos at home, Yarrabah go up against Southern Suburbs at Jilara Oval and Cairns Brothers have a bye.
