Oisín McConville said a "truth session" which was run by former Ireland rugby international Willie Anderson with the Armagh panel in late 1998 was one of the factors which helped turn them from "nearly men" to eventual All-Ireland winners.
Joint Armagh managers Brian McAlinden and Brian Canavan - known as 'The Two Brians' - asked Anderson to run the session as he'd done it "a few times".
"I remember Cathal (O'Rourke) from that session in particular because I think he was after Brian McAlinden and Brian Canavan," McConville told the BBC's The GAA Social podcast.
"He was the first one up. Individually, we were asked for a couple of negatives and a couple of positives. One of Cathal's was 'I am a good footballer but I'm just trapped in a wrestler's body'.
"Everybody had a laugh and Cathal had a laugh. I thought, 'Right, it's going to be one of those where it's going to be quite lighthearted'.
1 April 1999; Cathal O'Rourke of Armagh during the Church and General National Football League Quarter-Final match between Armagh and Sligo at Pearse Park in Longford. Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile
McConville said the session "did take a turn" when each player had to give one negative about the teammate beside.
"Martin Toye who played for Armagh for years and years," McConville continued, "was probably coming towards the end of his career - he was a fabulous servant to Armagh, a fabulous player.
"Tony (McEntee), who was probably 19 at the time or had possibly just turned 20, wasn't on the squad a wet weekend. He turned to Martin Toye and said, 'No harm to you Martin, but you're finished about five years ago'. This was in front of everybody. The whole place went silent. That sort of changed things.
"It was something that changed that team. We were sort of nearly men. Eventually in '99, we started winning a thing or two."
Armagh had lost the 1998 Ulster semi-final to Derry but the following year reached the provincial final, defeating Down to win the title for the first time in 17 years. They retained their crown the following year, and in 2002 won the county's first and only All-Ireland title.
2 May 1998; Noel Kennelly of Kerry in action against Tony McEntee of Armagh during the GAA All-Ireland U-21 Football Semi-Final match between Kerry and Armagh at Parnell Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Anderson said the session is "something that a lot of sides would be scared to do."
"It depends on the coach," he added, "if you're content and strong enough, because you're the first man up. In generally it's going to be 75 [per cent positive], 25 [per cent negative]."
McConville said the other revelation from that night was seeing Anderson doing video analysis of a rugby game before the truth session began.
2 January 1999; Dungannon coach Willie Anderson speaks to his players prior to the AIB All-Ireland League Division 2 match between De La Salle Palmerstown RFC and Dungannon RFC at Kirwan Park in Kiltiernan, Dublin. Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile
"That was only starting in Gaelic football," said McConville.
"Jeremy Davidson, a British and Irish Lion, was sitting there going through tape and winding it back and playing it forward. We could see him doing this and that was the level of detail. Now, obviously, Gaelic is at that level of detail."
Quiz: Identify The 10 Well-Known Inter-County GAA Players From Their Minor Photo
