NFL/Tyrone v Kerry: Mickey Harte tells Ian O'Riordan why Tyrone cannot rest on their laurels

Tomorrow's rerun of the All-Ireland football final is typically engaging and also immaculately timed. Exactly six months after meeting in Croke Park for last year's final, Tyrone and Kerry face off again exactly six months away from possibly getting back there. Six months, or 26 weeks - 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20. . . That seems like a long time away, which it is, but for Tyrone manager Mickey Harte the countdown is well underway.

It has to be. Harte believes his quest to defend an All-Ireland title is an ongoing process, and tomorrow's rematch with Kerry is an important part of that. Sure, it will be long forgotten come next September's final, but it will definitely have played a part if Tyrone manage to get there.

It's hard to dispute that Harte and his Kerry counterpart, Jack O'Connor, currently face the most difficult tasks in football management. O'Connor's task is difficult enough to start with, since a year without an All-Ireland is still considered a wasted one in Kerry. But in recent years beaten All-Ireland finalists have a better record than the champions. It's just five years since Galway came back from a final defeat to claim the title. Dublin did likewise in 1995. Cork's back-to-back of 1989-1990 feels like a generation ago.

In his own mind Harte has already defined the challenge, which like trying to keep fresh an old rope trick is largely about trying to find new ways to impress. That means a simple repeat of last year's effort is bound to fail. The 2006 edition of Tyrone football will need to be faster, stronger, more efficient. Vorsprung durch technik, as they say.

"To me that's obvious," says Harte. "First of all, every other team raises their game when they're out against the All-Ireland champions, so that's the something we have to be very wary of. Secondly, I know every team out there have been searching for new ideas and new little ways of improving.

"If we don't do likewise we're going to slip behind and could suddenly find ourselves chasing quite a few teams. Last year's quality and last year's form won't do this time. I honestly believe other teams will always stretch themselves to new heights every other season or so."

Six months away from another possible date with destiny, Harte should have a good idea of whether things are on schedule, but he reckons time can sometimes vary its pace.

"Well, an All-Ireland schedule is a very fluid situation. Sometimes you think things are right on schedule, the team are playing very well, and you're making the kind of progress you want. The one result can change all that.

"I know we felt we were going very well during the McKenna Cup in January, and then the whole picture became very different when we lost the first couple of league games.

"I do think we've got back on track now after winning our last two games, but I know as well that we haven't been seriously impressive. The important thing for the moment is that we've got the few results that matter to us now. But the next test definitely comes with Kerry, because there's no doubt in my mind they are still one of the very best teams in the country. And have been for four or five years."

As much as the timing then, tomorrow's match in Omagh offers a huge opportunity to look deep into Tyrone's current resources. Harte has no doubt this Kerry team are still the ultimate yardstick.

"I'd be one of the first people to say this Kerry team hasn't got all the credit they deserved. They won a couple of All-Irelands in the last five years and contested more finals than anyone else. They've won a league to boot. I suppose because of who they are, some people are inclined to pass that over and think it's not such a big deal. Well, I know it is. Other teams get much praise just for making a couple of finals, but to me the true strength of where football is at the moment is still Kerry.

"So I will always give this Kerry team the respect they deserve, and that's total respect. They still have so many quality players, and I suppose like a lot of Kerry teams they're living in the shadow of the golden teams, and that's not fair to them. Just because they didn't win three or four All-Irelands in a row they don't seem to get the same credit.

"In the context of today's standards I believe this team is just as good as any other Kerry team . . . To me they've achieved just as much."

Halfway between one All-Ireland final and the next it seems Tyrone have reached a turning point of their own. In many ways last Sunday's victory over Monaghan has left them facing straight at the rest of 2006, and fully turned away from 2005.

"I would sense that," agrees Harte. "I suppose the whole month of January was about starting out again, and using the McKenna Cup to try out a few new players, and let the existing players find their feet again. That was very successful for us.

"Things do move on a lot when you get to the league. And we noticed that this year. Maybe we weren't quite ready for it. So the best thing about that result against Monaghan was the way we won and overcame the situation we found ourselves in. We'd beaten Monaghan comprehensively in the McKenna Cup, and it was always going to be difficult to repeat that.

"They were in a very good position with about 20 minutes to go, and we had to haul back a seven-point deficit. To achieve that was a big boost to any team. That's also the kind of experience you can never get unless you go to those kind of places."

Harte will field 10 of his All-Ireland-winning side tomorrow, with last year's captain Brian Dooher named among the substitutes and poised for his first appearance of the year. The most obvious absentee is the retired Peter Canavan. Opinions on his loss vary greatly; some say it is incalculable. Harte has his own view.

"The fact is we've been weaning ourselves off the Peter Canavan factor since 2003. He was out with injury for a lot of 2004, and then at the start of last year he opted out altogether, and didn't play any part in the league. I think at that stage the team was already well used to not having him.

"We were lucky then that he did make it back for the championship and, as we now know, was seriously impressive. We know we won't have him this year, and of course that's a loss, but it's not too hard to move on from that because it's been coming for a while now. I also think some of the next generation of players are already sharing the burden of his absence, and that's the best way to cope with it."

Win or lose against Kerry tomorrow, and it's a tough one to call, Harte will take what he needs from the result and just keep the whole show rolling along. Six months down, six months to go, he will hope.

"We would never depend on any one result or any facet of that game to turn us back into world beaters. We have to build on all the experiences we come across, and try to make the best of that to be a better team in 2006. So every game becomes part of the greater plan.

"That's why we'll be trying to be the best we can on Sunday, learning more about ourselves. From that point of the view the process of defending the All-Ireland is definitely underway."