You know when your phone bill comes and when your head is examined you'll be glad you used the land line for all the chatter you've had about him. You know what you want and you know just how you're going to get it. The Wicklow job.

The Ireland job. Those Aussies or his Meath, who was dirtier? This is going to be good. Damn right you're ready.

Only thing is, so is Sean Boylan. You just can't prepare for someone who presided over Meath football for 23 years and by the time you're finished you know how Billy Morgan must have felt in 1987 and '88, how John Maughan must have felt in '96, how Larry Tompkins must have felt in '99. Take the subject of Eamonn Barry, recently released from his position as Meath manager after just a single season in charge. "That's the way it works. It's a democratic process. I had to go before the board each time around. People said that wasn't right, that given the length of time I was there they should have respected me more and besides, they should have already known what I was all about. Well there are democratic rights. You can either go along with that or walk away. You are either on the team or you are off it. Either you are picked to do the job or you are not.

Eamonn was like myself, went before the lads on the county board, but things didn't work out for him. Of course it was hard on him and very tough but that's how these things work.

"I could have been gone early too. In 1985 we were hammered by Laois and barely survived in division one of the league. Joe Cassels and Colm O'Rourke went and they spoke in front of the county board. Maybe if that didn't happen I might have been gone as well, before all the good years we had. That's the way these things work. But Eamonn going was nothing to do with him being around in my latter years in the job, I can ensure you that. He was entitled to look for the job when I had it. He'd done great things at club level and felt that this was the next step. There are certainly no hard feelings."

But that's the past and it's the new challenge that excites him. There is less then a month to go until he's back on a sideline after a year away. The itch has been unbearable. He explains how international rules is different.

The mark. The tackle. The scoring.

Obvious things you already know but you don't stop a kid playing with his new toy, so let him at it. You've been here before though Sean?

"That's a long time ago now. Back in. . .

1984. Jody O'Neill approached me in the Montrose after a Meath-Wexford clash having realised the Irish team had no one to help work with the injured players. It was a great series and great to have this extra dimension. I thought so anyway, but others mightn't have enjoyed it so much. I remember working on Barney Rock's ankle one day and he turned to me and said, 'It's no wonder the Meath forwards can't score'."

Just how rough was it back then?

"Well the sport went out of it and there was nothing to be gained. It was scrapped for a long time which should explain that. But no more than now, it was a fantastic game then if it's played right. The Irish guys love the physical contact but there is a huge difference between that physical contact and outright dirt. Nobody wants to see that and there's no future with that. That's why now there's a bit of make or break to this series. And Nickey Brennan was right in warning that it must be about the sport or there is no future. If the elements that came into it last year, if that continued, it couldn't go on. There's no place for that in any of this. What happened last year in Australia would not be tolerated in Australian Rules.

"In Gaelic games it's not on. In rugby it's not on. When you go out with the intention to hurt, that's a dangerous mindset. Let's not lose sight of the fact of the skillful way the Australians played the last time though. It was fantastic. It'd be a shame to lose all of that so we'd just like to see it back on track and get to see all of that again."

Is that hypocritical though, to criticise the Australians after presiding over a Meath side so often renowned for an extremely tough approach?

"I've no problem with the physical aspect of any game. I've a problem with dirt. I have a problem with somebody coming in with the intention of trying to hurt someone. Walking down the road you can get hurt, but to do it intentionally is a different story. It's a very big difference. People will talk about different players we had on our Meath teams over the years yet there was never a question of somebody not being able to get up and go to work the next day.

"I never went out with the intention of ever hurting anyone. I never closed one single training session in my life.

People forget that an awful lot of our players shipped a lot of belts as well. But people saying that doesn't frustrate me. Not a bit. Because once you know in your own heart and soul and as a fella says if you can face your maker. . . But if you want to be specific, anything we did wrong, we more than paid the price for on many an occasion. But you can go right down through the years. Things happened that might have seemed dirty, but there was never the intent there."

You'd wonder if the same can be said of what lies in waiting for Boylan and his Irish side. But as much as people focus on the negative aspects of the last series, they also forget just how poor Ireland were and how accomplished their opponents were. Quite simply, Ireland took one hell of a beating. Can Boylan change that? Well he's never gone into anything thinking he wouldn't come out on top.

"You get times like that for whatever reason, that things go badly wrong.

It can just happen. But I'm new here and honestly, all I can say is I've been stunned by the enthusiasm, the efforts guys are making to come to trials, how much they want to be part of this. And they want to win too, so you have to get the selection right. People talked about the likes of Ross Munnelly and the Gooch being too small the last time, but it's not just about that. Size isn't the defining matter. Look back over the years. Noel Tierney from Longford, Benny Coulter, Noel Roche from Clare.

They wouldn't be huge men but the way they could adapt was absolutely brilliant. There have been big men who couldn't adapt. It's a question of trying to get the balance. But I don't think anybody could have been ready for the kick back we got last year. That wasn't about size. That never came into it with the sort of behaviour that went on.

"But we have to have the heart, you have to want it. Instinctively guys who play Gaelic football get into a frame of mind, they have instincts. Now when you play a compromise game, you've got to be able to adapt and think very quickly. Suddenly you are in a situation when a tackle is allowed. It's a different culture of thinking on your feet. If we adapt well to the rules that are there and have been laid down, we'll have a right good game. Win or lose that doesn't really matter, as long as we have a right good game that people can see the best of both sets of skills."

Winning does matter though because he wants to go out a winner and this is an end. He claims nobody from Wicklow has ever approached him about a job. Others have but his time on that stage has come and gone. "I've to live at home. It was bad enough being here when I was managing Meath, can you imagine what it would be like if I was in charge of someone else. It's nice to be associated with these positions but I'm happy the way things are. I've had enough of all that."

You should know better, but you walk away believing every last word.