By its nature, data is boring and dull; colourless and vague, but sometimes numbers jump off the page where clear trends paint a whole new picture. And a completely new story emerges as the bright colours melt and fuse across the black and white background.
The recent World Cup featured an ever increasing number of starts made by players aged over 33 — 179 in total. That might seem meaningless as a solitary figure but it’s not when comparisons are made with previous tournaments. In 2018, that number was 144. In Brazil in 2014, it was 101.
Yet is that figure an anomaly or more in line with modern trends? A recently published study in Spain, where data was collected from 154 players from La Liga, the Spanish first division, between the 2012–13 and 2019–20 seasons, revealed some interesting insights.
Players decreased by an average of 0.56 per cent in their total distance covered for each year they got older, while the distance covered by high-intensity running decreased by 1.42 per cent per year. Yet those numbers were offset by how players significantly increased their pass accuracy by an average of 0.25 per cent each year.
The study concluded that while elite players were unable to maintain their match-related physical performance as they got older, players could annually improve their technical–tactical skills as a possible compensation mechanism against physical performance declines related to ageing.
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Are we seeing something similar now in hurling? Yes and no. Numbers always oscillate but there are some similar type trends heading in the other direction. In the 2022 All-Ireland final, there were five players over 30 who featured; just three starters. In the 2012 All-Ireland final, there were six starters over 30. However, nine players under 22 played in that 2012 final replay. In the 2022 final, there was just four.
In the championship a decade ago, the top-nine counties used 85 players under 23, 43 of whom were still under 21. In the 2022 championship, the top nine counties used 53 players under 23, just 15 of whom were still under 21.
Ten years ago, the culture of blooding young players had dramatically changed due to increased levels of strength and conditioning training. Yet younger players are finding it harder to make up that ground now against established players immersed in that culture since their mid-teens.
“That transition for young players is not just down to S&C [strength and conditioning], it’s across the board,” says Mark Brady, S&C coach with the Dublin footballers but who worked with the Cork hurlers in 2020-21. “The average level of an inter-county player is higher because they have been prepared more extensively, and with more resources, than previously. So it is more difficult for young players coming through to reach those levels straight away.”
Brady witnessed similar trends during his time with the Italy and Uruguay senior rugby teams, but sports science is altering age numbers across elite sport.
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Elite young hurlers are still coming through. Ciarán Joyce was one of Cork’s best players in 2022. Waterford’s Cathrách Daly was outstanding in the league final. Mikey Butler won an All-Star in his first season at 22. Clare used four U21s in the Munster final — Shane Meehan, Mark Rodgers, Robin Mounsey and Patrick Crotty.
Two of the five under-21s, Crotty and Adam Hogan, Clare used during the championship were under 19 but Clare were the exception. Those reduced trends are even more noticeable in football because fewer under-20 footballers are breaking through to play senior. There were only six starters under 23 in the 2022 All-Ireland final. Age profile is never an easy gauge around success, especially when a successful team is maturing and evolving. Cathal O’Neill was the only young player to break into the Limerick team this year but O’Neill’s age also lends weight to another argument around the rule that if an under-20 player plays senior championship, they can only play under-20 that season once the senior team has been knocked out.
The flipside to that debate is that, while underage competitions are crucial on the player pathway, they are still essentially development teams, and those already playing senior competition are depriving other young players the opportunity to play under-20. But it’s still a highly contentious and emotive debate.
“It’s disappointing that we’re penalising our best young players,” said John Kiely after Limerick beat Cork last April. “We could make this work because I don’t believe it’s the issue of burnout.”
O’Neill’s involvement in that game ruled him out of the rest of Limerick’s under-20 campaign, where they reached the All-Ireland final, losing to Kilkenny by one point. Would O’Neill have been the difference? Kilkenny benefitted from that rule, winning the Leinster final after extra-time against a Galway without Gavin Lee and Tiernan Killeen, who had already featured for the seniors. In the Leinster Under-20 semi-final, Kilkenny beat Wexford by two points; Wexford’s Oisin Pepper was ruled out after having come on with four minutes remaining against Galway the previous week. Pepper played just ten minutes’ senior championship in 2022. Lee came on in five games for a combined 49 minutes but Killeen only played four more minutes after coming on at half-time against Westmeath.
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At least those players have already taken their first steps, but the overall struggles of young players leads into another strand of this debate. Most inter-county panels are loaded with young players — Cork had 17 All-Ireland Under-20 winners from 2020 and 2021 on their extended panel in 2022. But only so many can make it at senior level for a sustained period.
Some may be better mentally and physically prepared at 24 or 25 but they have often been overtaken by then by the next youngsters. Many players are becoming lost in the vacuum left by the now defunct All-Ireland Junior and Intermediate championships, especially when some counties fielded an under-23 side. A handful of counties have tried to fill that void with development squads, but the pathway is being facilitated further by long term athletic development planning programmes.
“Having that base enables young players to tolerate the training and match demands better,” says Brady. “If they have come through an effective and well-designed programme, there is no reason why players shouldn’t be able to thrive at senior.”