At stumps in scorching and humid circumstances within the sides’ first Take a look at sequence, the hosts have been 386 for 4 with Dinesh Chandimal unbeaten on 18 and night-watchman Prabhat Jayasuriya 12 not out.
After profitable the toss and electing to bat, captain Karunaratne scored 179 earlier than reaching his fifteenth Take a look at century, whereas Mendis scored 140, his eighth within the five-day format.
Opening batsman Nishan Madushka was caught by Curtis Campher for 29 to offer Eire an early breakthrough.
However Karunaratne and Mendis added 281 runs for the second wicket, breaking the earlier file of 253 set by India’s Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara in 2017.
Nonetheless in search of their first win since gaining Take a look at standing in 2017, Eire’s bowling lacked penetration and there have been too many brief and large balls that have been suitably punished.
The partnership was finally damaged when Mendis missed a sweep shot off the left-arm spin of George Dockrell and was trapped leg earlier than wicket within the ultimate hour of play.
Former captain Angelo Mathews was then dismissed for a three-ball duck, caught behind swinging exhausting at a large supply from leg-spinner Benjamin White.
The second new ball led to Karunaratne’s downfall as he hit stumps with six overs left, trying to drive Mark Adair with out a lot motion and was caught behind.
He scored 179 runs in 235 balls with the assistance of 15 fours.
Through the knock, he turned the fifth-highest run-scorer for Sri Lanka in Exams, surpassing the legendary Aravinda de Silva, who has now scored 6,409 runs in 85 Exams.
There was flip and bounce for the spinners, as is all the time the case in Galle, however the Irish bowlers did not profit from the circumstances and construct up sufficient stress.
Sri Lanka punished free balls at a fast fee of 4.39 runs per over and took management of the sport.
Eire have misplaced their final 4 Exams, together with the one in opposition to Bangladesh earlier this month, and that is the primary time Eire have been concerned in a couple of Take a look at match in a sequence.