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Reliability of a Gaelic football simulation protocol developed to replicate the movement and physiological demands of elite Gaelic football match-play

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Abstract

Purpose

The current study examined the reliability of a novel Gaelic football match simulation protocol (GFSP) that simulates the match-specific activity demands of elite Gaelic football match-play.

Methods

After familiarisation, 16 male Gaelic footballers performed the GFSP on two occasions, 7–10 days apart to determine the reliability of a range of team sport performance indicators.

Results

The total distance (TD), high-speed running distance (HSRD) and sprint distance were 8479 ± 594 m, 2349 ± 308 m and 651 ± 319 m, respectively. In addition, decrements in TD (− 2.4%), HSRD (− 11.2%) and sprint distance (− 32.6%) from first to second half were observed. There was no significant difference between repeated trials of the GFSP for all running performance and physiological measurements. The GFSP demonstrates good test–retest reliability for the majority of performance and physiological responses. Between trial coefficient of variations (CV) and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were: TD 1.9%, 0.93; HSRD 3.0%, 0.93; sprint distance 17.6%, 0.86; peak speed 4.5%, 0.60; mean heart rate (HR) 1.8%; 0.94; peak HR 2.2%, 0.89.

Conclusion

The current investigation shows that the GFSP replicates the average movement demands of elite Gaelic football match play. The current simulation is reliable and may be seen by practitioners as a viable monitoring tool within the Gaelic football research and training process to monitor the effectiveness of various training and nutritional interventions on Gaelic football-related performance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Sciences, Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool, L16 9JD, UK

    Luke O’Brien & Farzad Amirabdollahian

  2. Gaelic Sports Research Centre, Institute of Technology Tallaght, Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland

    Shane Malone, Dominic Doran & Kieran Collins

  3. The Tom Reilly Building, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 5UA, UK

    Dominic Doran

Authors
  1. Luke O’Brien
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  2. Shane Malone
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  3. Dominic Doran
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  4. Farzad Amirabdollahian
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  5. Kieran Collins
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Correspondence to Luke O’Brien.

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Institutional ethical approval was granted for this study and conformed to the declaration of Helsinki (Ethics approval code: S 09-10-2017 PA 020).

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O’Brien, L., Malone, S., Doran, D. et al. Reliability of a Gaelic football simulation protocol developed to replicate the movement and physiological demands of elite Gaelic football match-play. Sport Sci Health 18, 681–688 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-021-00834-8

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