Dublin GAA takes to the skies to stay ahead of chasing pack

The technology is also being used by the English and Welsh FA as well as Liverpool Football Club

More importantly for manager Dessie Farrell, who is not currently permitted to attend training as he serves a 12-week ban for Dublin’s covid training breach in March, footage of sessions can be live streamed with the aid of the technology meaning he may be able to view sessions and in-house games remotely in real time. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

The sky is the limit for Dublin senior footballers as they are now using state-of-the-art telescopic sports masts to record and analyse their training sessions and games.

Manufactured by Llanelli-based company AnalysisPro (AP), the masts, which can extend to six metres and feature 4K PTZ (pan, tilt and zoom), cameras are also being used by the English and Welsh FA as well as Liverpool Football Club.

More importantly for manager Dessie Farrell, who is not currently permitted to attend training as he serves a 12-week ban for Dublin’s covid training breach in March, footage of sessions can be live streamed with the aid of the technology meaning he may be able to view sessions and in-house games remotely in real time.

In a testimonial on the AP website, Dublin GAA performance analyst Stephen Behan describes how beneficial the technology has been to the team since they procured it in 2020.

“The AP capture system has been a fantastic resource over the last year for Dublin GAA,” he states. 

“We had a unique problem in that we wanted to be able to record high-quality film from two cameras, but we also needed a portable solution. We have two AP Capture Sports Masts working in tandem together, which allows us to control both IP (internet protocols) cameras from one vantage point, as well as allowing us to capture two angles simultaneously in AP Capture V2.

“The masts are extremely sturdy and mobile, and are fully self-powered through long lasting batteries, which is fantastic for bringing them to alternate locations.” 

Behan continued: “The camera quality is second to none, with the smooth and instantaneous joystick control allowing us to record excellent footage.

“The set up allows us to also capture directly into our Hudl Sportscode software, which greatly speeds up our analysis processes. We look forward to exploring the live streaming plugin feature over the summer with the potential to share games to a wider audience.”

The Dublin senior footballer’s use of technology is well known in the GAA going back to Paul Caffrey’s time in charge. In their current 29-person strong management/backroom team, the analysis group comprises Behan, former Cork footballer John Courtney, Frank Roebuck, Ciarán Toner and Chris Farrell.

Their scouting network, led by Glanworth-born Courtney who previous managed Kildare, Carlow and Offaly, is considered the best in the country. At senior and under-age level, Dublin have been known to film the games of would-be opponents using CCTV-like cameras.

The importance of video analysis to Dublin was evident in early 2018 when then manager Jim Gavin refused to speak to be interviewed by RTÉ for a couple of weeks after they did not release DVD recordings of league games to Dublin for analysis purposes.