Niall Lynch is the trainer of the Cavan senior football team. As a schoolteacher, the by-product of his energies are viewed by a select audience.
As the man charged with 'getting the county fit', the Cuchullains clubman sees his work poured over by an entire county and then some.
He is one of the best people at his particular 'job' in Cavan. But 18 months into the post, he accepts that the pressure to achieve results is building.
"Yes, I'm under pressure but so is the rest of the team-management and the players too, especially now that we're in our second year," he explains.
"We're in place long enough now to have settled in and everyone realises that the honeymoon period - if there was one - is well over at this stage.
"The expectation is there among the supporters that we're going to improve on last year. I can understand how some say it's now or never for us."
Niall believes that winning matches is the key to propelling Cavan football's stock skywards. It's got to be more Roscommon now and less Antrim.
"Mental strength and confidence only comes with winning matches and the fellas in place right now have to be able to win division three matches.
"Doing well in the national league is very important so as to have the necessary confidence going into the championship down the road."
Reflecting on the present team-management's maiden season in 2009, the 32-year old club defender describes it as a "topsy-turvy one."
There were mitigating circumstances in what was a year (2009) that fell way short of expectations, he suggests without trying to seek out excuses.
A poor pre-NFL season in which the county "totally observed" the close-season ban compounded the fact that the panel was late getting together.
"In '09 we only got the fellas who were involved with their colleges in the Sigerson Cup on one occasion before our national league first round game.
"This year has been different 'cause we were in situ a good while before the league season rather than being just appointed in the October previous."
To aid and abet Cavan's preparations in 2010 for the national league, the much-hyped boxing contests involving the county squad caught the eye.
Niall deems the boxing event a good success, "generating a good buzz among the lads and doing morale no harm at all into the bargain."
With newcomers like Thomas Corr, Eoin McPhillips, Eoin McGuigan, Alan Clarke, Raymond Galligan and Gareth Smith on board, morale is key.
Having inherited a panel of players when appointed in October 2008, Tommy Carr's management team was destined to shake things up a bit.
But the 2009 season came around so fast that plans for trials never got off the ground so the 'tried and tested' remained in place.
There's no doubt though that the Class of 2010 is Tommy Carr's squad; Niall Lynch's squad. The players are their players. So what can fans expect?
"Cavan supporters are a realistic bunch and if they see their team showing an improvement and getting results then they will keep faith with us.
"I think if they were to see Cavan pushing for promotion from division three and in contention up 'till the last game they would be reasonably happy.
"And even if we lost out on promotion, I feel Cavan's support would be happy if they could see a genuine improvement in the team's performances."
The Virginia College staff member has faith in the current Cavan squad and is convinced that the players are totally committed to doing Cavan proud.
Like many coaches rooted to terra firma, Niall is a coach who eschews the temptation to muddy the waters when a crystal-clear view is attainable.
In that respect, he is a devotee of the mantra which suggests that football is a simple game complicated by coaches.
"One of the main things we emphasise is the need to be able to control the midfield and, failing that, to be able to get the ball from the opposition.
"The reality is if you are capable of taking the ball from the opposition, it is okay to lose one or two balls to the opposition in the game.
Working alongside Carr and selectors Peter Reilly and Terry Hyland, Niall is full-sure that the ball is always, literally, in the players' court.
He shares the view that once players cross the white line, the outcome of the game is manifestly in the players' hands (and feet).
"As a coach, if you have the work done on the training field, then it's up to the player to put in the required performance in the particular game.
"Okay, you get a chance at half-time to maybe influence how things are going but if you haven't done the practice on the training field, I don't think a manager or coach can wield any influence once the referee blows his whistle to start the game.
"Personally, I feel a coach's role is to prepare the players to perform to the best of their ability. As much as possible of the work you do with the ball in training should mirror what happens during a game but you have to get the lads physically fit and then playing to their strengths.
"I don't see how 90% of the work you do on the training field can't be done with the ball. If you have enough work done, the luck tends to follow."
Niall concurs with the well-thrashed out layman's dogma that getting fit to play in a game isn't rocket science and he is wont to play down his own role.
His basic view is that Gaelic footballers need to be strong, fast and be able to handle the ball with efficiency and expertise.
As a coach, he believes he is obliged to tailor the training drills to suit whatever particular group of players he is involved with at any given time.
As spring kicks in, Niall admits there is still "room for improvement" among Cavan's finest but "any player that has the will can step it up a level."
He is encouraged by the application shown by Cavan's 2010 squad but concedes "we have a seismic leap to make to get to where Tyrone are."
"Tyrone continue to set the height of the crossbar for the rest of us but we have to take encouragement from how Fermanagh have progressed.
"Fermanagh and Antrim have belied their national league positions over the last few years to make the Ulster final so that's the challenge for us.
"Having said that, I don't think it's realistic to expect us to be as good as Tyrone in the next 12 months but we can at least try.
"If we manage to be in a position to contest promotion this year and get a good run in the championship, I think most people would view 2010 as having been a fairly good year.
"Even promotion in the league and winning the U21 championship would be a success in my mind. It would be a good year for Cavan football."
Of course, the reality is that Lynch and co. are being asked to radically transform Cavan football's fortunes against the backdrop of a dire underage record of achievement.
Cavan's dearth of provincial titles at minor and under 21 levels is a well-documented fact and something which has spawned a raft of 'turning a sow's ear into a silk purse' analogy among managers and fans alike down the years.
However Niall believes that the county's supporters do take into account the lack of proven performers that successive senior team managements have been able to tap into.
"I think, in general terms, supporters are fair. They're entitled to shout at matches and criticise but I feel they are aware of our underage record.
"Supporters in the county realise we haven't been a hot bed for underage talent over the years but everyone is determined to make the best of what we have and I know the current squad of players are determined to realise their potential."
Enough potential to realise a victory over Fermanagh in this year's Ulster SFC?
"I think so. I suppose that if you were going to pick a team to meet in the championship, Fermanagh wouldn't be a team that you wouldn't take as opponents if offered the opportunity.
"It is interesting that our last opponents in the national league will be against Fermanagh and I hope that at that stage, that'll be a very important game in the sense that it could decide our promotion prospects.
"We'll go forward together as a unit and hope to achieve the best we can in the coming months.
"Everyone has a play a role to play in getting us to where we want to go and we all have to buy into that.
"I see myself and the rest of the members of the management team as being facilitators but, ultimately, it will be down to how the players develop and perform that will dictate how Cavan does in 2010." Tweet

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