Tommy Bowe palmed a loose ball into touch with Richie McCaw waiting to pounce and the TMO awarded in the All Blacks’ favour.

Dan Carter and Ronan O’Gara also swapped penalties in an error-strewn first half.

Brian O’Driscoll led out Ireland for the 50th time in today’s eagerly-awaited autumn Test against New Zealand at Croke Park.

The Lions centre became only the sixth player to reach the milestone and hoped to mark the occasion by helping Ireland to their first victory over the All Blacks in 22 attempts.

Six changes were made to the side that thumped Canada 55-0 last Saturday with David Wallace, Alan Quinlan, John Hayes, Rory Best, Tomas O’Leary and Girvan Dempsey recalled.

The biggest surprise was O’Leary’s inclusion with the Munster scrum-half making his full debut against the world’s top-ranked side.

The All Blacks paid Ireland the compliment of naming their strongest possible line-up, including skipper Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.

Just 20 seconds were on the clock when potential disaster struck for Ireland with Ronan O'Gara's clearance being charged down by Jimmy Cowan.

The ball bounced away from Cowan and into the path of covering winger Rob Kearney who cleared in the nick of time.

Paul O’Connell was penalised for entering the breakdown from the side but Carter made a hash of what should have been a routine penalty.

Ireland used a strong run from Tommy Bowe to burst into opposition territory but lost momentum, putting the All Blacks back onto the offensive.

Only a crucial intervention from centre Luke Fitzgerald prevented Mils Muliaina from scoring in the 10th minute.

The New Zealand full-back had an unmarked Joe Rokocoko outside him but paid the price for going it alone.

Starved of possession, the Irish were forced to repel a wave of All Black attacks that ended when the Tri-Nations champions were penalised at a scrum.

O’Leary’s nerves were settled by a brilliantly-judged box kick and then Wallace brought Croke Park to its feet by romping through a posse of black shirts.

Ireland appeared to have weathered the storm in the opening quarter yet mistakes by Donncha O’Callaghan and O’Gara put them back under pressure.

Their blunders were overshadowed by Carter’s missed penalty from in front of the posts moments later, a kick totally out of character for the brilliant All Black.

But Ireland appeared intent on helping their opponents as much as possible and soon conceded another penalty which Carter was able to land.

Quick ball from an attacking line-out allowed the Irish to respond with a beautiful offload from O’Driscoll to the rampaging Wallace but Muliaina intercepted his pass intended for Rob Kearney.

Again they moved into New Zealand’s 22 but this time they were pulled up for crossing with the touring defence scrambling furiously.

Quinlan was lucky not to get punished for a blatant stamp and Ireland were awarded a penalty in the same passage of play which O’Gara converted.

But disaster struck in first-half injury time when Tommy Bowe was sin-binned for an infringement that also earnt New Zealand a penalty try.

The Ospreys winger raced to intercept a dangerous chip with McCaw also charging in and palmed the ball out of touch before reaching the in goal zone.