Two All-Ireland club champions. Two completely different S&C setups.

Most people assume elite club teams are all doing the same thing. They're not.

Dingle and Ballygunner won back-to-back All-Irelands with weekly training structures that are noticeably different from each other. Shane O'Rourke runs the S&C in Dingle. Darragh Mulcahy runs it in Ballygunner. Both are doing serious work. But the philosophy behind each week is not the same.

Here's what each setup actually looks like.

Dingle

The week is built around two anchor sessions.

Monday is a full squad gym session. Every player lifts together. Cork and Limerick-based players complete it remotely and log through RYPT. The point is collective alignment, everyone doing the same thing at the same time, regardless of where they are in the country.

Wednesday is the key field day. Sprint exposures are the priority. High-speed running and max velocity targets are tracked with GPS, and the loading is individualised.

A player with a hamstring history isn't getting the same sprint prescription as someone with a clean bill of health. Recent game load, total exposures, position - it all factors in.

Tuesday sits between the two anchor sessions and does the individual work. Bike conditioning, rehab, RTP, kicking sessions, upper body. It's not a blanket prescription. It's based on what each player actually needs.

Thursday is lighter - individual upper body and prehab, lower neural demand than Wednesday.

If there's no Saturday game, there will be a tactical session on Friday, but the load stays low.

Sunday is generally game day.

The conditioning block is not a separate entity. It's integrated into the football.

Shane put it plainly: "A lot of the fitness work we do is through football."

Ballygunner

The structure is more traditional in terms of how stress is applied and recovered from.

Monday is player-led in the gym. No coaches present. Upper body, trunk, mobility, optional bike work. Recovery from the weekend.

Tuesday is the heavy day. Activation, small-sided games, a hard pitch session at roughly 7.5 to 8.5 RPE, followed by the main strength session of the week. The stressors are stacked deliberately.

Wednesday is off. That's intentional. Stack the work, then recover properly before going again.

Thursday is the speed and power day. Bigger spaces, faster-paced sessions, more fast-twitch gym work. Lower eccentric loading than Tuesday - the nervous system gets the stimulus without the muscle damage.

Friday off again for individual recovery work.

The weekend session is built to feel like a game. Match or match-like, with minimal gym work - primer and activation only. The aim is to replicate championship demands so the game itself doesn't come as a physical shock.

What the difference actually tells you

Dingle uses football to drive most of the physical output. The gym is one focused day. The field session is one focused day. Everything else serves those two.

Ballygunner separates the physical qualities more explicitly. Strength has its own day. Power has its own day. Recovery is scheduled, not assumed.

Both models work. The evidence is on the scoreboard.

But the principle behind both is the same - stress is applied deliberately, recovery is built in, and the players aren't just grinding through sessions without a reason for each one.

That last point is where most club setups fall short. Not because they're doing the wrong exercises, but because there's no structure to when and why they're doing them.