The running performance of elite ladies Gaelic football with respect to position and halves of play

Purpose: The current investigation aimed to examine the running performance of elite Ladies Gaelic football (LGF) match-play and establish the within game positional profile, in addition to the running performance of players across halves of play. Methods: GPS technology was used to examine the running performance of thirty-three (n = 33) elite LGF players (age; 23 ± 5 years, height; 173 ± 5 cm, body mass; 63 ± 4 kg). Across the duration of the observational period, one hundred and thirty-one (n = 131) individual samples were collected over 15 competitive matches. Data were classified based on positional line and across halves of play. Running performance was determined across the following performance variables of total distance covered (m) (TD), relative distance (m·min⁻¹), HSR (≥ 4.4 m·s⁻¹), RHSR (HSR; m·min⁻¹), percentage HSR (% HSR), VHSR (≥ 5.5 m·s⁻¹), peak velocity (m s⁻¹), percentage peak velocity (% PeakV), accelerations (n; ≥ 3 m·s⁻²) and decelerations (n; ≤ − 3 m·s⁻²), Results: Independent of position the mean distance covered during match play was 7319 ± 1021 m which equates to a relative work rate of 116 ± 9 m·min⁻¹. The high-speed distance of players was 1547 ± 432 m, which equates to a relative high-speed running distance of 25 ± 11 m·min⁻¹. The maximal velocity of players was 7.17 ± 0.41 m·s⁻¹ reflective of a relative maximal velocity of 86 ± 4 percent. The greatest distances were covered by half-backs, midfielders, and half-forwards, with these positions covering significantly greater distances than full-backs (p ≤ 0.05; ES: 0.59–1.25; small-moderate) and full-forwards (p ≤ 0.05; ES: 0.44–1.21; small-moderate). While TD and maximal velocity was shown not to change across halves of play, significant reductions (p ≤ 0.05) were observed across HSR (ES: 0.64–1.02; moderate), accelerations and decelerations (ES: 0.59–1.20; moderate). Conclusion: The current investigation is the first of its kind within elite LGF, the data within the investigation can aid the coaching process by allowing for the development of sport-specific training regimen specific to the positional needs of elite LGF players.