On Friday evening Queens were the visitors to NI Civil Service for the opening Men’s Premiership fixture of the season, at Stormont. On a thoroughly miserable evening, only the intensity of the rain varied through the course of the game.

Queens pressed from push back, forcing Serve back, defending high up the pitch. Despite their dominance Queens couldn’t score. On a rare breakout James Thompson latched on to a long ball and slotted it past the advancing keeper, to give Service a 1-0 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.