Niall Moyna: ‘I actually don’t like the term strength and conditioning’

In his now 45 years of near-continuous observation of player performance, Niall Moyna has seen different trends repeatedly come and go. Probably more than anyone else in Gaelic football. Only he’s not yet sure of any evidence to suggest a trend of players becoming increasingly injury-prone.

When Kerry football manager Jack O’Connor threw out one of the lines of the season so far in saying players are pulling hamstrings like guitar strings, he certainly struck something of a chord. In truth, most guitarists will tell you strings often last better when played regularly, or at least kept in tune.

Moyna, by his own admission, fell out of love with Gaelic football around six years ago, the professor of clinical exercise physiology at the School of Health and Human Performance at Dublin City University (DCU) also ending his then 18 years of continuous involvement in the Sigerson Cup.

During that time, he won four trophies with DCU, as well as being part of the Dublin backroom team that helped claim the breakthrough 2011 All-Ireland under manager Pat Gilroy.

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He did stay involved with the St Vincent’s club in Dublin, in football and hurling, before returning to the intercounty stage this season as selector and head coach with new Louth manager Ger Brennan, Dublin’s two-time All-Ireland winning defender.

“As I’ve said before, around 2018, I just fell out of love with Gaelic games, found it hard to watch,” Moyna says. “When I went back in with Louth this season, it was like being on Mars for the first couple of months. I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, tactically. Because the game has moved on beyond all recognition over those last five years.

“And I’ve seen tremendous changes from those late 1970s to where we are today, especially in the physical preparation sense. And being back involved with Louth has already been an enriching experience, brought me back up to where the game is, in relation to those tactics.”

Moyna’s first involvement was with the Limerick footballers, in 1979, when completing his degree in physical education at the then Thomond College. He’s since worked with his county and club in Monaghan, as well as with the Ireland International Rules team.

The single biggest change he has seen in that period has been the approach to strength and conditioning.

“I actually don’t like the term strength and conditioning, would get the GAA to start calling it athletic development, which I think is more encompassing. That’s the first thing.

“Players are carrying a lot more muscle, in high-intensity situations, with sharp turns, de-accelerations, all that is putting more strain and stress on the tendons and ligaments, maybe leading to more soft-tissue injuries.

“There’s also that culture in the GAA now that you need to be doing some strength and conditioning every week. There were some weeks this year with Louth when we didn’t do any, focused on the recovery, or small-sided games.

“If you’re a defensive linesman in the NFL, and that’s where a lot of this came from, of course strength is 90 per cent of the game. But Gaelic football is much more mobile, aerobic and anaerobic, and I would like to see far less time being spent in the gym. And more time being spent on the simple skills, being able to kick a point from 35-, 40-metres, or the art of tackling one-on-one.

“If all this strength work is just about being able to hit harder tackles, then maybe that’s why more players are getting injured. But part of the issue here is I simply don’t know, would need to see more evidence.”

Galway football manager Pádraic Joyce also spoke about the challenge of surviving in Division One when around half of his first-choice panel were out injured. On that note, Moyna points towards the GAA’s National Injury Surveillance Database, first set up in 2007.

“The GAA do have an injury surveillance group, and it would be great to get more information from them, and in a timely manner. So it’s not just anecdotal. I know as a scientist, you need some hard evidence.

“Every county team is supposed to fill out an injury report, which goes into a central database, something I recommend when on the medical and scientific committee. Papers have been published on this, but the GAA need to put more resources into it, get some people working on this full-time, so we can see on a weekly basis are we getting more of a certain type of injury?

“Or if you play this many games in X amount of time, you’re more likely to get this type of injury.

“We’re collecting the data, but there’s no one looking at it. We’re also imposing professional standards on amateur players. It’s the basis of all physical fitness, the body breaks down during training, and only adapts during the rest and recovery, when it gets stronger.”

When the league is over, starting last weekend, I’d give every player two weeks away from the county. Totally away. Not just physically, but mentally too

The demands of the split season, condensing of all intercounty competitions into six months, isn’t helping the matter either, although Moyna suggests that only requires some minor tweaking.

“I think they’ve pretty much got it right, even though I think the college players are missing out, are being used and abused for six weeks every year. I don’t think that issue has been addressed.

“I like the fact there are two fortnight breaks, during the league, but there’s still not enough time between the end of the league and the start of the championship. If the GAA are prudent, I still think there are three or four weeks to play with.

“So when the league is over, starting last weekend, I’d give every player two weeks away from the county. Totally away. Not just physically, but mentally too.

“That time could be put on towards the end of the season, because to me anyway it doesn’t seem like the club season really gets going until the end of August.”

Going on his recent experience with Louth, Moyna also believes players from every county are better primed than ever to meet the demands of the senior game.

“It used to be some players would join a senior panel with a training age of zero, now they’re training since 13, 14, with various academies or development, have that physical size and strength to transition more easily, Again, because of all that, you would expect to be seeing less injuries.

“In my own experience with Louth, we also use GPS in every training session. I’m seeing that in real time, so can make a call on each individual session, making sure no one is going too far above or beyond their limit. And I have often stopped sessions, said ‘that’s it’.

“Now, Louth are sponsored by STATSports, who work closely with us, understand the software, because my view on GPS is you shouldn’t be using it unless you understand it properly. For the most part we’ve been good at minding our players, maybe a bit lucky, maybe a bit of both. But most of our players, when needed, we’ve had them on the pitch.

“But some of the smartest people I know in strength and conditioning are the ones who understand how to lean on that the least.”

Just unlikely to be the next trend in Gaelic football.