“We’re as far away from Dublin in our performances as we are geographically. 100 miles away.”
Ask Mickey Harte if Tyrone are the team to dethrone Dublin and he will quite literally laugh at you. Then he will set you straight.
The Tyrone boss is heading into his seventh Ulster Senior Football Championship final, on Sunday, and is only focusing on what he can control. Right now, that’s his team. He hopes they can nip Donegal’s resurgence in the bud and set themselves up for an All-Ireland quarter-final.
It is hard for others not to look ahead, especially with a Red Hand team managed by Harte. Six times he has sent out sides to contest the Anglo-Celt Cup. Only once [2005] have they fallen short and it took a replay for Armagh to shake them loose.
It has been six years, though, since Tyrone were in the final. Doubts festered that Harte had it in him to cut loyal soldiers loose and adapt to the kick-out obsessed, counter-attack, ‘run yer arse off’ game-plan that has swept the nation.
And yet here they are – back in the big time with McKenna Cup and Allianz Division 2 wins already secured. It is too early to say whether this is Harte’s third great Tyrone side but they are four games off emphatically swaying opinion.
Harte told this Thursday’s edition of The GAA Hour [from 13 minutes – below] about making the tough decisions – including saying goodbye to loyal lieutenants Stephen O’Neill, Conor Gormley and Ryan McMenamin – he had to take to ensure Tyrone were a force again. He said:
“You certainly can’t say there wasn’t a lot of transition that took place, and it had to take place.
“It’s always difficult to let people go that have been there and done it with you but, I think, most of them realise when their time comes and are prepared to stay a while and be a part-time player, where they used to be full-time players. They recognise it is time to let the young players in and give them that experience.
“I’ve always found it has been an amicable release. You wouldn’t want to be cutting anyone and saying ‘You’re not with it any more’.”
https://soundcloud.com/user-787320910/the-gaa-hour-with-colm-parkinson-new-donegal-and-dubs-versus-the-spread#t=13:00
Pace is the byword for modern-day football but Harte insists there is still a place for specialist roles and skillful players. It’s all about finding a mix, he reasons.
“Pace is, of course, very important but you couldn’t have a team of athletes running fast and not playing much ball… You need quality players, players with vision, who can control the ball at pace. There’s no point in having pace and not being competent in the skills…
“You have to be skillful and pacy [now]. In the past, skill alone might have done you.”
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