Mickey Harte first to come to grips with substitution strategy with Tyrone

Of all the ingenious strategies Mickey Harte has come up with in keeping Tyrone so relevant and competitive over the last 15 years, his deployment of Peter Canavan in the 2003 and 2005 All Ireland finals remains among the most bold and brilliant. 

Canavan entered that all-Ulster decider in 2003 with an ankle ligament injury that forced him to hobble off early in the semi-final win over Kerry. Everyone knew there was little chance that ankle could withstand 70 minutes against Armagh. But while the rest of us speculated whether the Tyrone captain would either start the game or come on in the second half, Harte calculated Canavan could do both.

He simply had to lead Tyrone out on All Ireland final day; if he did not, there would be such a sense of deflation around the stadium among the Tyrone supporters upon hearing the news that it could affect the team.