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Kerry Sprinters Versus kerry GAA

  • 29-08-2008 9:58pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15


    Alright this is a straw poll. can we draw a crowd of paying public Joe Soaps to a Track and Field meet, summer 2009, Venue Kerry Rioct AC.? As part of International Track Meeting , usually poorly supported by the public despite a great field of international Athletes, EG 2007 year we had Micah Kogo Kenya, He won Bronze in Bejing this year, 100 meters Ricardo Williams Jamica ran sub 10.2 at our meet in 2007. Unless we have a huge name that the public can relate to Like Bolt (unlikely) the ordinary Joe just wont show up, so we are proposing a 100 m race , any 4 Kerry inter county players Versus top 4 kerry 100 meter sprinters. Top 2 in Kerry Champs this year ran in the 10.8s electronic times. Next 2 capable of sub 11.2
    questions.
    1. Can the GAA Guys put up a challange?
    2.How fast do you think they are? Name the contenders.
    3. If the Common mans heros ( the GAA guys) are trash talked enough can we intrigue the public enough to pay to see which sport is the greatest-bog arab footbal or elite track???


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,567 ✭✭✭RoyMcC


    Interesting. I'd personally be surprised if any of the football lads could do an 11.2. But I'd hope to be wrong as the common belief is that Ireland's sporting talent is tied up in GAA.

    Don't know too much about the Kerry players but maybe they could all try the sprinting thing before Sunday, tweak one or two hammies like :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,912 ✭✭✭thirtyfoot


    Unfortunately Phelan and O' Donoghue would be safe enough based on the stats here (which are Kerry and Mayo footballers). Good idea though. Fastest GAA man in Ireland could be a good one too. We might not get a GAA player under 12 secs?

    Maybe the Girls U15 vs Kerry Footballers would be a good race:D (Joking, half serious). GAA are fit and great athletes, but we sometimes assume they are world beaters at everything when in fact they are Irish just like Phelan and O' Donoghue and don't train solely for running in a straight line for a little over 10 secs so it might be a bit much to ask them to beat sprinters. Now NFL players, different kettle of fish.


    http://www.alanheary.com/v1/images/site/assets/science%20and%20gaelic%20football.pdf


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 396 ✭✭helpisontheway


    Tingle wrote: »
    Unfortunately Phelan and O' Donoghue would be safe enough based on the stats here (which are Kerry and Mayo footballers). Good idea though. Fastest GAA man in Ireland could be a good one too. We might not get a GAA player under 12 secs?

    Maybe the Girls U15 vs Kerry Footballers would be a good race:D (Joking, half serious). GAA are fit and great athletes, but we sometimes assume they are world beaters at everything when in fact they are Irish just like Phelan and O' Donoghue and don't train solely for running in a straight line for a little over 10 secs so it might be a bit much to ask them to beat sprinters. Now NFL players, different kettle of fish.


    http://www.alanheary.com/v1/images/site/assets/science%20and%20gaelic%20football.pdf

    Of course there is no way theyd beat Phelan or O Donoghue but with 3 or 4 weeks of running on a track im sure a few of them wouldnt be bad as they are fit.They may push the 11.2 lads.If memory serves me right Darren O sullivan of Kerry won a few colleges medals beating some international juveniles 5 odd years ago at north munsters but didnt attend the munsters and i think Paul Howard of Dublin has a few All Ireland hurdles medals but that could be a different Paul Howard.I think this idea might really work in the strong Gaa counties and if it was for charity the Gaa players might be more willing as they wouldnt want to get their arses handed to them on a plate without an excuse!!:D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 15 griffspeed


    So far it looks like opinion is split about the Kerry Footballers being able to put up a challange to our Kerry sprinters. Yes I agree O Donoghue & Phelan are probably too elite for these guys. Some say 11.2 might be on the cards for them, others supported by a scientific study seem to think sub 13 secs could be a stretch for these guys.
    One contender so far being Darren O sullivan, yes he looks like he has good leg speed on TV but only over 20 meters.
    Some support that this is a good idea to draw numbers of GAA fans to a track meet and promote T & F.
    Interesting in that study to see that Vertical leap for the GAA guys was maxed out at 58CM. Pretty low for a sport where high fielding is a key skill.
    In a recent test I was involved in examining sprinters and training progress, Vertical leap was in excess of 75 CM. So could your average sprinter out field a Gaelic footballer, looks like it to me.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4 munster08


    I agree that the GAA player's athletic abilities are held in some sort of superhuman belief by the public and it would be interesting to hold a Kerry GAA vs Kerry Sprinters race. Firstly it would be a kick up the hole for any GAA supporter to see their "super athletes" get beaten in a sprint by 18, 19, 20 year olds (or maybe even u15 girls), it would also be a massive boost for athletics in Kerry and similar events might catch on in other counties and also it might actually encourage more people to take notice of the achievements of Hession and other internationals.

    If the find the 100m too long and the starting blocks too awkward, the sprinters could race them for 60m from a standing start (or if the footballers want a head start) and still beat them Bolt style!:D


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,912 ✭✭✭thirtyfoot


    I think you'd need to keep some perspective and bear in mind track athletes train to race in a straight line over 100m full stop. GAA players probably wouldn't have the speed endurance to maintain a full 100 as they don't need to. There are fantastically fit and conditioned GAA players like Sean Og O Hailpin but then some GAA players at inter-county level who would have an embarrassing level of conditioning (I witnessed a few at Croker a few weeks back) but they can still be effective at GAA which is all required of them.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭shels4ever


    Well even soccre players can get away with a limited level of fitness. For the past 4-5 years i've been playing and training twice a week with a game on the weekend but my level of fitness was a joke to be honest, was able to last 90 mins and make some decient runs, but since i've jsut been running i'm so much fitter... Its eassier to hide in a team sport but on the track your alone..


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 576 ✭✭✭ifah


    why not give the sprinters a football and ask them to solo the 100metres with someone tackling them all the way and race the gaa players that way ? surely that would incorporate both Athletics and GAA !

    but tbh having played for 25 years (not county level) this sounds like a daft debate - of course most trained athletes will out pace/sprint inter-county players but putting it into perspective intercounty players probably run at least 7 km during a match split into jogging interpersed with flat out bursts of speed - both making and taking some very hard knocks as well. There are different types of fitness/conditionig based on whichever sport you play/participate.


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