TIPPERARY - 1-18 CLARE - 2-13: As the GAA waited in trepidation for a deluge of political metaphors this morning, yesterday saw some serious criticism levelled by Tipperary party leader Nicholas English at the conditions of the room space allocated to his candidates in yesterday's Munster examination against Clare.
Mr English, a successful national candidate last September, said that it was ironic that, just as the GAA was approving the extension of match panels to 30, cramped facilities such as in the Cork count centre still existed.
Apparently built for class sizes of about 10, the room in question was yesterday accommodating anything up to 300 people.
Rats believed to be thinking of infesting the premises have complained to local authorities that the facilities are frequently overrun by media personnel anxious to interview victorious and defeated leaders.
Explaining Tipp's success at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the face of some debilitating withdrawals, English stressed that the team had been determined not to make excuses in advance of yesterday's test.
"We could have come here and hidden behind the injuries or the loss of hunger that defending All-Ireland champions suffer from. But we weren't going to let that happen.
"Injuries to key players are a problem, but we tried to bring on John O'Brien and Mark O'Leary too soon and that backfired.
"There are still injuries clearing up. We won't have Paul Ormonde back, probably not John Carroll who's only back the week of the Limerick match. Eddie Enright will struggle as well so it was important that the replacements played well."
They certainly delivered yesterday. Noel Morris and Conor Gleeson, long-standing panellists in recent years, had fine matches - Morris at centrefield and Gleeson at centre forward. Corner back Donnacha Fahey also played well.
Challengers Clare provided strong opposition despite an evident lack of interest from their supporters.
The turnout was a disappointing 27,531, well down on recent contests between the parties and it was Tipperary partisans that outnumbered the opposition, an unusual inversion of the not too distant past.
Unlike last year's fractious proceedings, yesterday produced a fine match in pleasant conditions. Clare kept in touch until the very end and a goal with three minutes left threatened to unseat Tipperary, but the composure of English's men shone through in an exciting conclusion.
Three Clare players got 2-9 from play between them.
Newcomer Tony Griffin shot six points, David Forde had two goals and centrefielder John Reddan, surprisingly replaced for the final quarter, struck three.
There was similarly good news for the football government in their Connacht base. Galway pulled ahead just before half-time courtesy of a Derek Savage penalty to lead by four.
The second half had none of the competitiveness of the early stages and two further goals by well-known dual mandate holder Alan Kerins helped the All-Ireland champions to record a comfortable win.
It means that Roscommon have lost their provincial title at the first defence and they now hope for some favourable transfers in the qualifiers round next month.
League and Ulster holders Tyrone's first-round match against Armagh has gone to a recount next Sunday in Clones.
An exciting late count saw Seán Kavanagh - a late addition to the ticket because of Brian McGuigan's withdrawal - save the day.
Finally, there was some extremely sad news from Carlow where the captain of the county footballers died in a motor accident over the weekend.
Andrew Corden was Carlow's full back eight days ago in the championship meeting with Westmeath.
A member of the O'Hanrahans club in Carlow town, he was on the side that won the Leinster club championship two years ago.
In a separate accident, Pat Bermingham, a club player in the county, was also killed.
