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"Everything from suits to God knows what" - James Horan's All-Ireland week advice

With the All-Ireland final closing in, former Mayo manager James Horan on how to cope with everyt...



"Everything from suits to...
Football

"Everything from suits to God knows what" - James Horan's All-Ireland week advice

With the All-Ireland final closing in, former Mayo manager James Horan on how to cope with everything thrown at you in the week of the final.

"It's a great week but it's also mad. You've so many things going on outside the game for a management team to keep under control - everything from suits to God knows what.

"But from a player's point of view, if you try to block stuff a lot of stuff out it can have the opposite effect of what you're trying to do.

"When you're trying to focus early in the week if you block everything out, you become too intense and you can become too worked up and by the time the game comes, you mightn't be able to perform to your best.

So it's important you to try and enjoy the build-up. You take in what you think is okay and you try and keep out what you don't think is important.

"Everybody has a different way of preparing or way of looking at it, so it's whatever you can get comfortable with.

"Obviously the more experience you have and the more times you go through it, the better you get at it and that's why you'll expect that Kerry in an All-Ireland final will perform to their best. They've all been through it so often and have that experience.

"You'll get the Clar an Lae from the GAA, you'll have gone through all that kind of stuff and you'll have talked through it.

"Even in one of your last challenge matches or A vs B, you might go through a scenario just to get players familiar with it. 

"We would have gone through something like that just to give the routine to the guys and that people will be familiar with it.

"But if you ask the majority of players, they'd just rather go onto the field and get into it." 

James was speaking on Off The Ball 

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