PUBLICATION: WHERE DID THEY GO? AN EXPOLORATORY STUDY OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT PATHWAYS IN GAELIC GAMES.

Cover Photo by Adrian Payne on Unsplash.

New publication from Sport and Human Performance Research Centre members Rob Mulcahy (Setanta College & Professional Doctorate candidate in PESS) and Phil Kearney (PESS).

What did we do?

We traced the journeys of Under-18 and in some cases Under-14 male Gaelic Games players forward through time.

What did we find?

🏐 The most common pathway for Adult High Performance (Senior Inter-County) players to develop was through both Under-18 and Under-21 teams however…
🏐 one quarter of both Adult High Performance hurlers and footballers followed an alternative pathway.
🏑 Approximately 10% of hurlers on Under 14 development squads progressed to play at least one Championship game at Adult High Performance level.
🏐 Significantly more Under-21 players with Under-18 experience progressed to Adult High Performance than Under-21 players without Under-18 experience.

What does this mean?

These findings reinforce the need for adaptive and inclusive development systems that prioritise long term player progression over early success.

What caveats should readers bear in mind?

It’s an exploratory piece of work, so does it apply to other counties, to the women’s game? We don’t know. It’s looking backwards in time at U14s and U18s who had the opportunity to progress to Senior Inter-County; does it apply under today’s conditions? We don’t know. Exploratory research is a useful first step, but it should act mostly as a stimulus for further research.

What happens next?

We hope the paper encourages people to look for other sources of data and to collect the relevant data so that we can develop a better understanding of player development journeys in the future.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00315125261454746