Two late wickets gave Ireland hope on an otherwise dominant day for Sri Lanka in the first day of the first Test in Galle.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis both scored centuries as the home side piled on 386 runs for the loss of four wickets.
Their partnership, worth 281 runs, was the highest-ever in a Test at Galle.
It passed the previous record of 267 set by Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim for Bangladesh in 2013.
Ireland are seeking their first win in Test cricket since securing Test status in 2017.
Karunaratne won the toss and decided to bat first, scoring his 15th Test century and putting on a big second-wicket partnership with Mendis.
However, Ireland would made two crucial breakthroughs at the end of the day as Mendis and then Angelo Mathews fell within three overs of each other.
Mathews only lasted three balls before taking a wild swipe at a delivery from Ben White.
Early Ireland struggles
Sri Lanka had started positively early in the day, racing to 40-0 after the first 10 overs of the Test.
With minimal assistance in the pitch for the seamers, Mark Adair was into the attack early in the day but gave little respite for the Ireland fielders, Karunaratne taking two boundaries off his first over.
As the scoring rate continued to increase, Ireland found a much-needed breakthrough in the first hour when Curtis Campher took his first Test wicket with a great delivery to dismiss Nishan Madushka for 29.
The ball just nipped away from an off-stump line to take the outside edge of Madushka’s bat through to Lorcan Tucker behind the stumps.
However, that was to be the last wicket for over two sessions worth of play. Karunaratne reached his half-century before lunch off 69 balls, with Mendis going into the break on 33 – 119 runs scored in the session.
The middle session was particularly bruising for Ireland with Mendis hitting the first maximum of the day, smashing Andy McBrine high over long-on to bring up his half-century. The 100 partnership came up two overs later.
Between them, Mendis and Karunaratne scored 126 runs off 28 overs in the afternoon session. It took Mendis five balls to move from 94 to his 100, his eighth in the five-day format.
He reached the milestone with a single to backward point, having ramped Adair to the boundary for four off the previous delivery.
Late revival
As Ireland faced the realistic possibility of taking just the single wicket in the day, George Dockrell made the breakthrough.
He trapped Mendis LBW looking for the sweep – the review from Mendis showed all three reds to give Dockrell some reward after he conceded 59 runs from his previous 10 overs.
Two overs later and Ireland had their third. Mathews chased a short and wide delivery from Ben White, the ball taking a feather from his top edge and through to the keeper.
Karunaratne’s extraordinary innings also came to an end before the close of play as he was caught behind for 179.
Ireland will resume on day two looking to build on a positive end to their opening showing in what will be the first time they have been involved in more than one Test match in a series.