Get the car parked, get the rain gear on, get the cameras ready, get the accreditation, get into the room, get a position, get a bib, get a coffee, get a programme, get to meet the others . . .
Croke Park hums. In the back room everyone is checking gear, making final arrangements. I decide to look outside without the cameras, to imagine where everyone will be for the start. "Pleeaase! Hey! Get off the grass!" one guy calls, as if he's whistling instructions to a sheepdog. The atmosphere is hotting up. As our briefing starts the Garda and Army No 1 bands strike up, so we can barely hear Karl from the IRFU. "It's the usual, guys. Remember, obey security - and thanks." We scatter, making for our positions. Ireland are late out. Well over 80,000 fans wait in silence as the President is escorted into the stand, next to the Taoiseach. England sing God Save the Queen. Then Ireland's Call begins, the fans singing louder than ever. Next is Amhrán na bhFiann; some people have tears in their eyes. Emotion like never before.
Game on. The first half flies by. I just remember Brian O'Driscoll's monster tackle on the English fullback. I take my position for the second half at the Hill 16 end. As a Mexican wave starts, the crowd at full volume, I look up to the big screen over the Canal End. For a split second I think Ireland are leading 40-something. Then I realise I am reading the clock. Could I fit it into a frame and somehow use it with action, all sharp, hopeful and worthy of the event? Bit of a stretch. Several times I try to capture the action with the scene behind. I crank up the exposure for sharpness and depth.
Donncha O'Callaghan is good but in the wrong place. I miss Paul O'Connell several times. The action through the eyepiece is tiny, and at that distance I'm not sure. I wait and watch as the game drifts in and out.
The next attack, maybe, I think, needing a dollop of luck. I prefocus on the lineout as they wait. When O'Connell jumps to catch from Rory Best there is only one frame in it. Is he pin-sharp? I'll find out later. Try after try rains down on England as Ireland stamp their authority.