When GAA fans - yearning for the days when there were no such thing as supporters, only players farther away from the ball - take to the playing field a wee bit early (i.e., before the game has actually finished) generally it's simply sheer excitement that carries them away, and places them inside the 21-yard line. Sometimes, though, it's for other reasons.

On 70 minutes at McHale Park yesterday Austin O'Malley scored a goal for Mayo - the cue for a mass pitch invasion by supporters (among them a surprising number of young Roscommon fans).

With Mayo now 10 points to the good, Roscommon players not particularly anxious to continue playing and supporters not particularly anxious to clear the field, referee Brian White wisely decided to call a halt to proceedings and allow the celebrations to officially begin.

What the result would have been had the game been finely balanced is, of course, another matter.

The first draw in an All-Ireland came 110 years ago when Dublin representatives Young Ireland's and Cork side Nils drew 0-6 to 1-1 (a goal was then worth five points, a rule Meath footballers would dearly love to see reintroduced).

With only a few minutes to go in the replay at Thurles, a pitch invasion by the crowd caused the game to be stopped. Cork were two points up at the time, but when the Rebels side refused to continue the All-Ireland title was awarded to the Dublin team.

Armagh fans may be getting used to travelling to Croke Park, but the county's first appearance at headquarters - in the replayed 1939 Ulster final - only came about because supporters invaded the pitch in the first game at Castleblayney.

And a mass invasion of Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney occurred back in 1987 when Tipperary's Donie O'Connell put the sliotar into the back of the Cork net during extra time of the replayed Munster hurling final.

At least Offaly fans have the good sense to wait for the game to finish before attempting to disrupt proceedings - though that method does have some obvious flaws.

In August 1998, at Croke Park, when referee Jimmy Cooney called time a few minutes early in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final - with Clare leading Offaly - the Faithful staged a spontaneous protest by running on to the pitch and refusing to move.

In fact, though the invasion was too late - though it shouldn't have been - to impact on the actual game, it did manage to cause the cancellation of another match. The under-21 B final between Kildare and Kerry scheduled to take place after the main match had to be called off because of the headstrong fans.

Years ago the more forward-planning supporters would have scaled the Hill 16 or Canal End fencing a good few minutes before the end of the All-Ireland final in order to be among the first to congratulate their players - Clare hurling fans and Dublin football supporters in 1995, etc.

It has not always worked out that way, though. In 1994 a few very late Offaly goals resulted in the unusual sight of fans trying to scale the fencing to get out on to the pitch being met by disbelieving fans from the other side climbing back.

September Road

Web Watch

We've said it here before, but this site is worth reminding supporters about again. www.anfearrua.ie claims to be visited by 50,000 GAA fans each month - roughly the attendance at Croke Park yesterday.

The reviews, previews, shorts, jokes and controversial opinions of An Moltóir and Co make this site well worth a visit.