How do situational variables, related to shooting, in elite Gaelic football impact shot success?

Abstract

Analysis of 3926 shots from the 2019 Senior inter-county football championship aims to establish the impact of distance, angle, shot type, method and pressure on shot success. Findings demonstrate that shots from free kicks contribute 20.5% of the total attempts in Gaelic football, with a success rate of 75%, in contrast to 50% success of shots from open play. Moreover, the range from which free kick success is >57.6% accuracy extends to 40 m, while from open play this is passed at a range of 28 m. There were almost twice as many right foot shots (64.4%) compared with the left foot (32.4%), with right foot attempts marginally more accurate. Shots under low pressure were most successful, while those under medium pressure were less successful than those under high pressure, albeit taken from an average distance of 7.5 m closer to the target. A logistic regression model to explore the impact of all variables on shot outcome demonstrates the significance of shot distance, angle and pressure on the kicker, as well as whether shots are taken with the hand or foot. This research provides an important step in understanding the scale of the impact of a range of variables on shot success in Gaelic football while simultaneously providing an initial model to predict the shot outcome based on these variables.

Profiling Bilateral Skills in High-Performance Male and Female Gaelic Footballers

“…We developed a definition of a successful performance of each skill through conversations amongst our research team (see Table 1 ). In prior research, the definition of close proximity of an opponent was somewhat arbitrary; for example, both Corbett et al (2018) and McGuigan et al (2021) used “within 3m of a player on the ball.” Our definition, instead, was based on Gentile’s (1972 , 2000) concept of regulatory features; if an opponent was sufficiently close for a player to have to alter (regulate) their movement to avoid being tackled, then that opponent was deemed to be within close proximity. In Gaelic Football, if an opponent was within arm’s reach of a player’s left-hand side, they had the potential to intercept the ball if it was bounced on that side.…”

“…The general influence of an opponent’s proximity on task performance is well established. For example, McGuigan et al (2021) reported that, when distance and angle to the target were held constant, close proximity of an opponent reduced the probability of a score in high performance Gaelic football. Additionally, in basketball, close proximity of opposition defenders negatively impacted shot success in several basketball studies ( Alvarez et al, 2009 ; Ibáñez et al, 2008 ; Gorman & Maloney, 2016 ).…”

“…Gaelic football is an ideal natural laboratory for the investigation of bilateral skill symmetry, this sport permits use of both hands and feet (from both sides of the body) for completing the multiple skills involved in gaining, carrying and distributing the ball in attempts to score. Furthermore, given the importance to success of the efficient use of ball possession in Gaelic football ( McGuckin et al, 2021 ), being bilaterally skilled would be logically advantageous. Our purpose in the present study was to investigate, via notational analysis of competitive matches, how performance level and gender influenced bilaterality among high performance male and female Gaelic footballers.…”