GAELIC GAMES ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIERS: AFTER THE recent hurling shock, we are due more footballing drama. There are heavyweights at play this weekend with Kerry up in Mullingar, Kildare intent on blocking out the Seánie Johnston hoopla in Cavan and Tyrone seeking smooth passage through Dr Hyde Park.
That was the venue for Mickey Harte’s first outing as Tyrone manager, nine winters ago.
“When I took over the Tyrone seniors in 2003 my very first game was in Dr Hyde Park,” said Harte. “They lost a man midway through the second half but 14 men beat us by a point in my first league game so it is not a memory I would cherish. I wouldn’t like a repeat of that.”
So much has changed. A defeat on Saturday would see Tyrone, three-time All-Ireland champions since then, regress almost to where they were when Harte took hold of them.
The panel he built around the 1998 and 2001 All-Ireland-winning minors has largely disintegrated. Brian Dooher, Philip Jordan and Kevin Hughes retired last year while there is a chronic list of wounded.
“Everyone is aware of the long term injuries we have – Seán Cavanagh, Ronan O’Neill, Tommy McGuigan and of course Kyle Coney. The other one that may be forgotten in the middle of that is PJ Quinn – a serious player for us in defence.”
Donegal have become Ulster standard-bearers. The defending provincial champions beat Tyrone in the semi-final and Harte accepts the shift in Ulster football, even taking positives from staying within two points of Jim McGuinness’ team.
“Nobody but Tyrone and Armagh had won Ulster for 12 years. That Donegal made that breakthrough is significant and obviously there is something about them to be able to break that duopoly. Reaching consecutive Ulster finals is them making a statement of intent. We all have to accept that at times there are teams who dominate more than others. At the minute they are the dominant force in Ulster and the rest of us are chasing them in terms of what they have been able to achieve. That’s a fact of life.
“This is a different [Tyrone] team. There is a period of transition and rebuilding going on at the moment. We can’t overlook that a lot of the senior players have gone. Add in the injuries we have on top of that and I think we did well to gain promotion back to Division One and hold our own with teams like Donegal. Not all is lost for us.
“I think we had a really good battle with Donegal. Probably at the wrong time of the game we let it slip away from our grasp.
“That gives us a degree of belief in ourselves. Every team will find it difficult to deal with Donegal and I think we dealt with them fairly good for most of the game.”
Last summer Tyrone looked set to explode when easing away from Roscommon in the fourth-round qualifier at Croke Park. The 3-19 to 1-14 victory, however, can be largely discounted as it was two goals from Cavanagh that broke the Rossies back. Still, glance through their team sheet and names like Conor Gormley, Peter Harte and Joe McMahon command respect. Stephen O’Neill abides, as does Brian McGuigan, albeit off the bench.
“We are rebuilding but there are some serious people there with a whole lot of experience and accolades behind them,” Harte continued. “This is knockout stuff now, some teams revel in that atmosphere and others tend to be swallowed up by it.
“I hope the experience we’ve had in the last number of years, particularly in 2005 and 2008, when we used the qualifiers to good effect can help us. Get a bit of momentum going. Take one step at a time. You have to believe you are as good as anybody because if you don’t believe that then you won’t be, if you do believe it you may be.”
