IT WAS almost 11pm when Mickey Harte finally slipped out the side gate of Páirc Esler on June 14th, disappearing into the gloom. Tyrone had just been removed from the Ulster championship after an epic tussle with Down and, well, many penned the obituary of a once great team.
Harte stalled to speak of possible redemption but after six years on the road we expected this golden period for Tyrone to fade into the northern night. And then Saturday.Harte was asked about the renewed hunger of his charges but he is too wise to accept platitudes from the fourth estate. Not while Sam Maguire resides in another's cupboard.
"Brian Dooher said it. One swallow never made a summer. You might say in a number of games this year that Tyrone didn't have the hunger. Now because we have one good result people say it is back. You can't say that. There were times today, yes, we were hungry for the ball and it worked for us. But we cannot say, yes, we are a hungry side anymore.
"You are a hungry side when you win an All-Ireland. We are not anyway near doing that. We are on our way to doing the best we can. We are in the semi-final. We haven't been there since '05. We like that place. We hope we can go further but there is a huge task in front of us if we want to do that."
Afterwards, Tyrone players to a man sought to downplay the victory and pay Wexford their due respect but they were unable to mask their pleasure. Tyrone went away but they are back again. So is Harte; still conjuring in his gentlemanly way. The man tactically dwarfed his opposite number on the sideline. The persona of a great manager is reflected in his team. See Brian Cody. See Mickey Harte. See the burning flame of a team that continue to write their legacy.
Joe McMahon's point in the 58th minute made it 3-12 to 1-6 and by the time Enda McGinley added another 90 seconds later, the stadium was half empty.
Brian Dooher may motor on a slower engine these days but the Tyrone captain blended constant motion with the wiliness of an old fox. He gave Colin Moran a torrid time before the Dublin think-tank finally made the switch.
And, like Harte, he brought a graciousness to victory: "I suppose Alan Brogan going off early, one of the top marksmen in the country, you know, maybe if you take that out of a team, especially so early in the match, maybe you are looking for that man every time. They had a few bad wides and definitely didn't play to their potential. The ball bounced our way every time we asked it to bounce."
And then he revealed the motivation Tyrone players took from being described as a spent force.
"We hadn't been performing that well and we were a very poor team coming into this match and we haven't become a great team because of this result. We are not going to believe that but I'm sure everyone will be saying we're the next best thing but it can't be further from the truth.
"We've a lot of work to do and we won't be kidding ourselves. We saw Wexford against Armagh and they totally deserved the victory. We're under no illusions."
