Abstract
This study investigated acute changes in markers of fatigue and performance attenuation during and following a competitive senior club-level Gaelic football match. Forty-one players were tested immediately pre-match, at half-time, full-time, 24 h post-match and 48 h post-match. Creatine kinase, drop jump height and contact-time, reactive strength index, countermovement jump height and perceptual responses were assessed at the aforementioned time-points. 18 Hz global positioning system devices were used to record players in-game workload measures. Compared to pre-match, perceptual responses (−27.6%) and countermovement jump height (−3.9%) were significantly reduced at full-time (p < 0.05). Drop jump height (−8.8%), perceptual responses (−27.6%), reactive strength index (−15.6%) and countermovement jump height (−8.6%) were significantly lower 24 h post-match (p < 0.05). Pre-match creatine kinase was significantly increased (+16.2% to +159.9%) when compared to all other time-points (p < 0.05). Total distance, total accelerations, total sprints, sprint distance and average heart rate were all correlated to changes in perceptual responses (r = 0.34 to 0.56, p < 0.05). Additionally, maximum speed achieved (r = 0.34) and sprint distance (r = 0.31) were significantly related to countermovement jump changes (p < 0.05), while impacts (r = 0.36) were correlated to creatine kinase increases (p < 0.05). These results demonstrate that Gaelic football match-play elicits substantial neuromuscular, biochemical and perceptual disturbances.
Highlights
Gaelic football is a field-based team sport native to Ireland which is contested on a grass pitch with two teams of 15 players [1]
1563 ± 605 m of high-speed running distance (≥4.7 m·s−1 ), 524 ± 190 m of very high speed running distance (≥6.1 m·s−1 ) and perform 166 ± 41 m of accelerations [2]
Performance of high intensity running and acceleration indices coincide with greater decrements to neuromuscular and perceptual status following match-play, suggesting that monitoring selected high intensity running variables during competitive games may help contribute to customized training load management during the 48 h post-match window
Summary
Gaelic football is a field-based team sport native to Ireland which is contested on a grass pitch with two teams of 15 players [1]. It is an intermittent invasion field sport, whereby intensive anaerobic efforts occur in a cyclical nature behind a background of light aerobic activity [1]. During Gaelic football match-play, workloads following intensive periods of play are temporarily impeded due to performance attenuation, while work rates progressively decline over the course of a game [4]. In elite-level Gaelic football, a significant progressive reduction in total and high speed running distance (≥5.5 m·s−1 ) is reported across the final three quarters when compared with the first quarter [3]. While such research is beneficial in quantifying the workloads which players undertake
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