"It's not really a good memory…It probably isn't a pleasant memory…"
It's telling that, when asked for their outstanding recollections of former Tyrone trainer Fergal McCann, both Owen Mulligan and Philip Jordan think back to torturous training sessions.
And yet they still recall him very fondly.
Mulligan remembers the efforts made to ensure the squad was as fit as the team: "We used to call it the 'Celebrity Fat Club' on a Sunday. When matches were played on a Saturday, the boys that didn't get on had to train on a Sunday. We used to hate it.
"Fergal would be there before anybody, setting out the cones. You'd pull in wherever we were training… It's not really a good memory, but he was there with the whistle and that smile. He always used to say 'You boys love this', when really we hated it.
"He went above and beyond for the Tyrone cause. He knew we all needed this training and we'd be called on at some stage of the year. He was there to bring us on to the level of the starting boys, they were getting ahead of us, he knew the subs needed extra training."
Jordan, who was an ever-present for many years, casts his mind back an against-the-odds triumph ahead of their third All-Ireland:
"It probably isn't a pleasant memory. In 2008 we'd beaten Mayo in the qualifiers, then we had a two-week break before playing Dublin.
"The Thursday after that [Mayo] game we went to Clogher and had a training session which was the most brutal training session I've ever been through in my life – yet Fergal got boys to do that.
"All four Moy fellas who travelled to training, none of us even ate after it, that's how rough it was.
"Fergal knew we were coming up a Dublin team who were raging hot favourites. We needed something mentally to convince ourselves – and we put ourselves through the mill in that training session.
"He told us: 'That's a training session you've never done in your lives before and you're still standing after it. You won't even have to put this level of effort in against Dublin.'
"That was about getting mental strength into the players for a match in which were major underdogs…That was a defining moment for that team in that season."
Tyrone, of course, destroyed the Dubs by 3-14 to 1-8.
Former captain Sean Cavanagh is forever grateful to McCann, including for efforts earlier that season:
"He drove incredible standards without seeking any acknowledgement whatsoever…People didn't understand the influence he had on the training field, and how players went to him when they needed help.
"I saw it first hand in 2008, when I was struggling after a knee injury. Fergal said to me to come up and do extra work in Augher and manys a night he worked with me on my own.
"I know he never put in expenses, wanted recognition, or mentioned it to anyone…That's the type of Fergal McCann, willing to do whatever it took to get the best out of us."
Cavanagh explained how that was a consequence of McCann's selflessness: "When players realise someone's there for the benefit of the players themselves, they'll work so incredibly hard to make sure they don't let that person down.
"That was Fergal McCann – he was the sort of guy that you felt bad if you weren't willing or able to give everything you had to contribute to a session he was in charge of.
"He was that good of a trainer, that good of a man. We all just responded to him time and time again."
Mulligan was impressed how McCann settled into a tricky situation, replacing 2003 All-Ireland winning trainer Paddy Tally: "I'm sure it wouldn't have been easy for him… Paddy's exit was a bit of a shock.
"But Fergal grabbed it with two hands. He introduced himself and we knew from the first session that he wasn't taking any sh*t or nonsense.
"He needed to put his own stamp on things, and so he did. He was a real players' person, he chatted away.
"The boys that needed extra work, he wasn't afraid to tell us. Probably I was one of them."
Yet there was much enjoyment in training too.
Mulligan comments: "Fergal's sessions – there was not one the same as before. He was a training genius. They were very game-related. If we lost or drew a game he would work on the weaknesses that the Tyrone team had, made sure it wouldn't be done again.
"That certainly worked in 2005, and then in 2008 the 'Twin Towers' [Kerry forwards Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh] needed marked and he concentrated on that an awful lot.
"He covered everything. His determination to make you a better person was there to see. He didn't single out one player, it was a team. If you didn't play as a team, we wouldn't win.
"If you're not trained right or not gelled together, you're in a losing battle, but he did that, he put us through our paces. There were some hefty sessions, brutal, but he was still giving encouragement.
"He would definitely call you out, call you over and shout in front of the lads that you weren't doing your best. He was never shy or hide behind anything if the effort wasn't good enough. Nine times out of 10 that gave us the kick up the backside that we needed.
"He was his own man. His training was second to none and that's what he'll be remembered for."
Cavanagh and Jordan both noted McCann's longevity, a decade in the role, the latter saying:
"Trainers and coaches can have a shelf life, just like managers. How do you keep changing the message to keep things fresh? That's a testament to Fergal too, that he was there for so long.
"He was still able to get the best out of the players. I was there for seven years and everything was still fresh, different drills. He was able to adapt styles to suit different players, different oppositions.
"What Fergal also had was the ability to tailor training to match situations, and explain it so that you knew why you were doing a specific drill. That's what truly makes a coach great.
"It's about getting you ready for what the opposition are going to bring, having you know the tactics the management have identified for winning a football game, Fergal's ability to translate that into different drills on the training pitch was second to none.
"He's the best I've ever come across in my time; from before and after there's certainly no one had his ability to do that."
