It was not the start John Andrews and his side wanted, losing a home game at the start of the campaign, one which has added pressure with a new structure coming in at the end of the current season.

The conditions were appaling, with the rain incessant, easing off slightly in the second half for a period, but that was to aid the visitors as they hit a purple patch with Dungannon simply pressing the self destruct button.

That was probably summed up best, when in injury time, with a bit of showboating on their own line, Dungannon were caught in possession and a loose pass and a fumble eventually led to the Dublin side securing the bonus point fourth try.

It is only one match of 15 in the campaign and Dungannon will be putting this one to bed quickly with two more home games to follow next Saturday's trip to Galwegians.

This weekend's game had started so well. A blistering burst by loose forward Derek Hall from near halfway, saw him thunder through three tackles to go clear and under the posts for a try after two minutes. Winger, David Parkhill slotted over the easy conversion for a 7-0 lead.

St Mary's had a lot of possession after that, but failed to break down the home defence. They did get a penalty on 15 minutes, Australian and outhalf, Shaun MacCarthy taking the opportunity to make it 7-3.

But Dungannon went on to dominate the half in the set pieces and scrambled well, with a lot of ball going to ground as a result of the wet conditions.

Parkhill slotted over a penalty in the 25th minute to make it 10-3 and three minutes later the home side were given numbers advantage when St Mary's influential second row, Gareth Logan was sent to the bin for coming in from the side, having already had two warnings from referee, Leo Colgan.

With the try not coming, Parkhill opted for the sticks in the 35th minute, but the long range effort was a shocker and then, just before Logan's return, the Tyrone side put on a good movement but Matt Maguire could not hold a pass that may just have created the opening for another try.

Under orders from Ulster Rugby, contracted prop Declan Fitzpatrick was only released for 40 minutes and his absence from the scrum in the second half became evident early on.

And had Nigel Brady, another contracted player been told by someone within the professional organisation that he was released to play, the hooker would not have been standing watching the second half!

Although their dominant scrum was beginning to creak a little, Dungannon still looked strong as the second half got underway.