Seβn Boylan's longevity as Meath manager has inevitably seen his former players become management colleagues. Colm Coyle is the latest of these. The most versatile footballer of the Boylan era, Coyle's playing career tracked the manager's tenure all the way to 1998 when after 16 years he hung up boots.

His sometimes-wild reputation on the field belies a relaxed demeanour and analytical football brain. Before becoming a Meath selector last autumn, he had already made his name on the club scene and was player-coach when Seneschalstown won the Meath county title in 1994 and reached the Leinster final only to lose to eventual All-Ireland winners Kilmacud Crokes.

More recently he has joined his local club, St Ultan's, and was asked to train them. "They were intermediate when I joined and I promised them I'd bring them out of there and I did. In my first year we were relegated to junior." Normal service has since been resumed and the club are back in intermediate and threatening to make a more auspicious exit this season.

He says that being involved in management is "no substitute for playing" but he has been surprised at the level of commitment required. "It's been a real eye-opener. Physical training is tedious enough but even the other things like going to matches to look at players or other teams take a lot of time. Then when you go home to be with the family, you might find yourself sticking on a video."

The opportunity to work with Seβn Boylan was one of the main attractions of becoming a selector. "It was one of the reasons I was keen to be involved, to see how he ticked. When you're playing you just get on with it. You hope to make the team or if you're established, you concentrate on your form. But working with him I see the unbelievable amount of work he gets through. He has concerns for everyone on a 31-man panel. Now on any panel some need more attention than others but he cares for them all, what they're doing on and off the field."

For most people the remarkable thing about Boylan is that he has kept interested and enthusiastic throughout nearly 20 years managing a county football team. Coyle says that it is always a matter of identifying targets. "Seβn's a good organiser and he's good at setting new challenges. The team that won the All-Ireland in '99 is mostly intact so we know the raw material is there. The big motivation for him is to give the team the hunger to do it again.

"People say that he must be totally different behind closed doors, that he couldn't be as nice as he comes across and still be effective. That's not true. He is as you see him. There have been a couple of crazy lads like myself on his teams but that's not his fault."

This year has been a slow burn for Meath. After a well-publicised challenge match defeat by Limerick before the championship started, the county's prospects were being downplayed. A tough opening encounter with tomorrow's opponents Westmeath ended in an extremely fortunate victory. But since then the team has improved incrementally to the point where a Leinster title was won.

Public assumptions have followed not far behind. On both a short-term and long-term basis, Meath are favourites this weekend.

Favourites to beat Westmeath and favourites with Kerry to win the All-Ireland. In this escalating expectation, Coyle sees the main task of management.

"Before we played Westmeath, Meath were down and going to get beaten a point a man. That was one point of view in the county. Westmeath could have beaten us the first day. It wasn't until after we beat Kildare that the public mood started to come around. Suddenly we were favourites. But if we'd been missing the players they were missing that day - it was the same for us in 1997 against Offaly - you can't do it.

"Anyway we're favourites. The problem is with the players who have daily contact with people who are reading this, and that can get in on players' minds. I know now that the line is, 'Westmeath have no hope'. That's very na∩ve. We only beat them by the skin of our teeth the last time. We've improved - we would need to have - but so have they and they've five games played.

"People say that's a drain on them but I remember playing 10 years ago when we'd the four Dublin matches and were out nearly every fortnight. It was a fantastic year because we were playing all the time. It will be the same for them, they'll have formed friendships and bonded during the campaign. I don't believe in putting on the poor mouth; if I think we're going to win, I say that. But this isn't going to be straightforward."

One of the strengths that make Meath favourites tomorrow is the county's capacity under Boylan's management to persevere no matter how badly a match is going (the very quality that beat Westmeath two months ago) and the consistency of the team's performances.

"In general we've never been teams full of superstars but we got a reputation as battlers. We research other teams but concentrate on getting our end of it right. No team plays to its full potential but it's our job to get as much of it out as possible."