In the space of a few hours, a hashtag called #Ladyball has rocketed to the top of Twitter's Ireland trends. 

But what is this Ladyball and why is it capturing attention?

In short, it seems to be round object commonly referred to as a ball - entirely pink too - made specifically for women with the creators explaining that "the idea for Ladyball came from personal experience when one of the creators tried various ball sports as a weight loss measure and found the regular (or as we like to call them “man-sized”) balls heavy, cumbersome and difficult to control."

Former Dublin footballer Ger Brennan appears to be a keen supporter of the idea, with the St Vincent's clubman, adding that "the fact that it is pink is an added bonus and sure to appeal to many more out there!"

@sweetpmac introducing #Ladyball! Launching now with our ambassador Dub football Ger Brennan pic.twitter.com/cWhKAAneRY

— Lady Ball (@theladyball_com) January 13, 2016

Not that everyone is sure about the idea of course given that it was initially hard to tell whether it was a real thing or not ... and we're still not sure what the story is.

Really thought @theladyball_com was some sort of bizarre joke but NO,it appears to be real. WHAT THE WHAT. #Ladyball pic.twitter.com/2fw1mpxrnz

— Elaine Buckley (@ElaineBucko) January 13, 2016