THE key thing we found through the years was allowing the team to stay within a routine they were comfortable with. Normally our players would make their own way to the ground but, in 1992 for the final, we met in Na Fianna's ground in Glasnevin and took a bus to Croke Park. That felt like a distraction. We had a motor cycle escort, lots of noise and flashing lights as the bus drove through crowded streets with people looking up at the players.

After 1992 we adhered to a normal pattern on All Ireland final days. Players made their own way to Croke Park and gathered in the dressingroom just after half time in the minor match. Some players liked to come early and watch the minor match, others just arrived at the ground at the given time.

Regarding the structure of the morning - when the players are on their own - they were told not to lie on in bed convincing themselves that they were conserving energy. They were told to get up and have a walk and they were instructed what foods would be appropriate to eat. Heavy fatty foods were ruled out. Refined carbohydrates, cereal, toast, marmalade that sort of stuff was okay. We stressed the importance of having a proper fluid balance. Thirst is a poor indicator of fluid balance in an athlete. They were given still mineral waters and isotonic drinks and told to drink them even if they didn't feel thirsty.

In 1992 we put a timetable of the day up on the noticeboard in the dressingroom and stressed it several times to players, but afterwards we felt it wasn't enough. We learned a lot from 1992. As a group in the week before the final we allowed ourselves to become distracted. You have to take the players precisely through what will happen before the match, focus their thoughts, make sure that they have visualised it all and that nothing surprises them.

The evening before the game players were told to stick to a normal routine. Sleeping pills were available but nobody ever asked for them. If they were to have a drink on the Saturday night two pints would be the limit. I think most of the players didn't take up that option.

You get the choice in Croke Park whether to leave the dressingroom at 3.15 or 3.17. We always opted to hit the pitch first. From the time we gathered in the dressingroom we would have a countdown with point zero being the time when we would leave. A selector would shout "10 minutes lads" "five minutes" etc, so no player would be rushed or taken by surprise. The countdown also helped build a sense of momentum.

There are always a lot of superstitions which might seem petty but which are important to those concerned - even amongst the management. The players would come into the dressingroom at the appointed time.

Everyone has their own place to sit and their own routine to go through. Team management would he togged out already so we could be available to anybody who needed us.

We would calm down the more excitable players, agitating those who needed a kick start. The atmosphere is usually tense but very quiet. Some players are very relaxed. Some are very gung ho to get going.

It's important not to keep them too long in there. Important that they get their rub downs, important that one player's preparation doesn't impinge on others. They take more fluids and water during their time in the dressingroom.

Some players like to go around shaking others up. Some want to be left alone. Others, like Charlie Redmond, just sit there with a towel over their heads. Some players would be afflicted with a sort of nervous diarrhoea which would worry them but it was harmless as long as they kept their fluid levels up.

The players would gravitate into groups as they got togged out. The full forward line would talk together. The full back line would do the same and so on. Each line would run through their tasks together. Then all the forwards and all the backs would get together until the whole team was involved.

In the dressing room prior to game, other members of the management team - Jim Brogan, Bobby Doyle and Fran Ryder - would talk to individual players about specific aspects of the game.

At a given time the management and officials would leave the dressingroom and the players would be left alone to speak to each other. They'd say a few words, key each other up. John O'Leary and a few senior players would say a few things. A bit of rabble rousing amongst themselves. Quite important.

Again there was a strict time frame on that. No long speeches. We would just walk back into the room when two or three minutes were up. After that I would say a few words. Virtually no discussion, just a run through the main principles. No more than two minutes of talk ever. I would try and eyeball as many of them as possible during those few words. Then we'd be at point zero and they would be up and out the door.

The preparations from the psychological view were upgraded at the start of the 1994 season by including Tom Moriarty, clinical and sports psychologist, in the team structure.

On the pitch they had very precise drills which they had to do. They had to pair off and run through a series of exercises. Early on the players didn't like that. We had to stress that this was the way we did it and the way we would always do it. They would run through that routine on the Saturday and the Thursday before the final.

Mentally the drills were very important. They were primarily structured to give players a proper physiological start but the psychological element was there too, particularly on big days.

Players didn't go cold into the game. They didn't stand waiting for a ball to come to them in an aimless kick about. They were performing specific tasks and duties from the time they got out there.

The greatest difficulties surrounds the protocol and pageantry. Players have my sympathy there. They are very worked up and agitated at that stage of the afternoon and it isn't easy to come down the gears and stand waiting in line for the President to shake your hand. If it is part of the day, however, the discipline has to be adhered to and prepared for. The most you can do is run them through it precisely, build the protocol element into their expectations of the afternoon. If they want to stand still fine, if they want to fidget and jump about fine. The same applies to the parade. We would encourage them to use it positively as an opportunity to focus their thoughts.

If a player breaks from the group prematurely during the parade I could understand how the others would go with him. It is better for their focus that they all break like that rather than get into disarray and confusion.

After the parade, teams often like to huddle together just before the anthem to refocus and rouse each other up again. It's best to keep guys involved and engaged mentally, not to give them too many moments alone before the throw in.

Last year we looked at the circadian rhythms of the players, that is a 24 hour biological cycle which is repeated over again. We moved the training session on the Saturday to the precise time of the game and ran things according to the match timetable. We weren't sure how that would work, but the players generally gave good feedback to the idea. It gave their bodies and minds a dress rehearsal for the following day and established a tempo.

In short the secret is to plan and prepare, to stick to tasks and gear everything towards honing the players' focus. The game brings its own eventualities, exigencies and emergencies. Before that players need as few surprise as possible.