Champions given a fright in yet another scary afternoon

We all used laugh when Kerry people made significant noises about getting over Tipperary in championship matches but yesterday's Bank of Ireland Munster championship first round was an occasionally scary experience for the defending Munster champions.

Once again it was a thoroughly scary experience for the GAA as yet another serious controversy marred what was only the third weekend of the football championship. Kerry's eighth-minute goal was shown by the live television broadcast to have been incorrectly awarded.

Gerry Murphy's shot hit the outside stanchion of the right-hand post and rebounded to him. He goaled the second chance, but retained a furtive air until he realised the score had been awarded. Tipperary's defence was immediately incensed and at half-time, referee Michael Collins of Clonakilty left the field surrounded by angry Tipperary players and officials.

Interval representations on behalf of Tipperary by the Munster chairman Sean Kelly to Mr Collins had been met with the inevitable response that the officials were standing by their decision.

Tipperary will consider their position this week, but it's hard to see Munster Council granting a re-fixture for what was essentially a common-or-garden mistakenly awarded score. What may cause most angst in the days ahead is that, yet again, the underdog county is the one which has suffered the injustice.

Yet Tipperary have themselves to blame as much as official error. Fate didn't deal them an unmitigatedly bad hand. Kerry had two penalties, neither of which they managed to convert and Tipp's captain Declan Browne had the first serious reverse of his short but glittering career.

Of the team's 10 wides, Browne kicked eight, four from play. He was exceedingly well marked by Kerry's under-21 corner back Michael McCarthy, but Tipp's limitations also played a role. Too often Browne had to take on the responsibility of scoring whatever the position and unsurprisingly the results were frequently unproductive.

Yet Browne will also know that many of his wides came from opportunities which he would routinely dispatch in more typical form.

Kerry will have mixed views on the outing. For a long stretch they were abysmal and went scoreless between the 29th and 62nd minutes. Yet they had started very positively and finished with an impressive display of nerve and clinical taking of chances.

The Munster champions were understrength and before the throw-in lost full forward Liam Hassett to a leg strain. In the event, it wasn't all bad news as his replacement, Aodan MacGearailt, although fresh from a disappointing performance in last year's under-21 All-Ireland, played well and scored three fine points from play.

Despite the unfamiliarity of the attack with each other - only Dara O Cinneide and Maurice Fitzgerald had started previous championship matches - the match started well. Kerry looked hungrier and hunted in packs and in the opening quarter particularly, their forwards covered so eagerly that Tipperary had difficulty building moves from the back.

At centrefield, Derry Foley was disappointing and both Dara O Se and Donal Daly had a constructive impact on the match - especially O Se whose physical strength enabled him to up the ante at various stages and rampage through serial hard hits in setting up attacks.

During their periods of supremacy, Kerry were also faster to breaking ball and tight in their tackling and general cover. The starting point for building their lead was the contentious eighth-minute goal, but thereafter a number of good moves and clean finishes pushed them into a six-point interval lead, 1-6 to 0-3.

It could have been greater - Kerry kicked seven wides - but it could have been smaller as Tipperary failed to put away a few good chances of their own. Peter Lambert showed some good touches and helped take some of the pressure off Browne, but in general Killian Burns gave an impressively urgent display in his first championship outing since the All-Ireland victory of two years ago.

The other Tipp forwards came into the match sporadically. Davy Hogan played in a deep role and tried to link the play but the stripped-down full-forward line didn't always cause Kerry the sort of difficulties which the potential of Browne and Lambert might have suggested.

Nonetheless Tipperary came out after an inordinately long sojourn in the dressing-room - prompting all sorts of wild rumours about their response to the Murphy goal - but they gradually played their way back into the game.

Principally the problem for Kerry was that they weren't getting a decent, quick supply into the forwards. Little by little and despite the inaccuracies, Tipperary eroded the deficit and as Kerry went through the first 29 minutes of the second half without scoring, there were only two points in it by the 62nd minute.

Tipperary had been greatly assisted by Kerry's failure to convert two penalties. The first was awarded for a foul by Benny Hahessy on O Cinneide and Fitzgerald's kick was well saved by Philly Ryan. Fitzgerald struck the kick relatively well, but it was too close to the goalkeeper's right-hand side. He struck the ball with his right foot and can't have been helped by a first-half injury to the leg.

Anyway, after Conor O'Dwyer was penalised in the square for picking the ball off the ground during a 50th minutes attack, Fitzgerald handed the responsibility to O Cinneide. The Gaeltacht man fared no better and scuffed a poor shot wide.

Otherwise Fitzgerald had an encouraging afternoon. Despite early wides, he was involved at various stages breaking and fetching ball to set up attacks. Then, with the end-game flashing before the teams, he kicked a vital 45 which settled the team and sparked a scoring surge which saw Kerry out-score their opponents by five points to one - including a converted free after Niall Kelly perpetrated a very high challenge on Fitzgerald.

Kerry endured the added inconvenience of having Eamonn Breen dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 66th minute, but ended on an appropriate note with the controlled exuberance of captain Seamus Moynihian carving through the middle and nearly scoring a punched point.

He was probably fouled in the attempt but referee Collins - who had a fair match despite the obvious controversy - whistled up the match.