Quality not quantity got us our second title, says elated Harte

HIS team may have won but Mickey Harte looked like he’d aged 20 years as he made his way to the Kerry dressing room to commiserate with the beaten finalists.

The Tyrone manager had one arm draped around an equally drained looking Brian Dooher for some sort of support and, after the season they’ve just had, their weariness is easy to understand.

Ten games they played to get their hands on the Sam Maguire for a second time, a marathon compared to the sprints that won some of the titles down the years before things like back doors beefed up the championship.

The question entering yesterday’s tussle was whether Tyrone’s meandering route to the final was better preparation than Kerry’s straight run through a succession of one-sided fixtures.

History will say Tyrone got the better deal, but Harte wasn’t so sure as he explained later on when a little more colour had returned to his cheeks.

“People will be able to say that now. How much accuracy is in that remains to be seen. People said after Meath’s long run in ‘91 that it cost them the game. Now that we’ve won after a long run, does that mean that it helps?

None of these things is an exact science. It worked for us this year but it took a whole lot of things to make it work.

“Our whole training programme was geared towards freshness. Credit must go to (trainer) Fergal McCann for that. We played ten games and we weren’t a tired team. Other people suggested we would be tired but it wasn’t in our bones to be tired. We only trained twice a week. Our whole routine was based on quality not quantity.”

Ironic then that it was a player on his last legs that scored the Tyrone goal. Just as he had done in the 2003 final, Harte had made plans for substituting and re-introducing Peter Canavan after a season where the great Errigal Ciaran man had been used more sparingly than usual.

“I was already thinking I’d take him off at half-time when he popped up to score. It was a really well-worked move by himself and Eoin. People said that, after the great year they had in 2003, it was a partnership that was on its last legs but they showed there’s still some life in it out there.”

That may or not be the case. When asked if he planned to play another season Canavan replied rather cryptically that he had “spent far too much time on the treatment table this year.”

Whatever his intentions, Tyrone’s future prospects at the top table seem favourable. Harte, his mind already thinking about more silverware for Tyrone, spoke of the need to build on the success now rather than further down the road, but his present team is one already earmarked for greatness.

In an era where winning back to back titles has proven beyond the abilities of any one team, winning two in three years is an extraordinary achievement for a side, especially one that has had to deal with tragedy as this Tyrone team have in recent times.

Harte accepts the notion that his is an exceptional team. The thing is though, he never needed yesterday’s win to tell him any such thing.

“I think any team that wins one All-Ireland has to be a great team. It’s a fantastic feeling to win two. We had a very rough year in 2004. Yes, you can play football again but your heart doesn’t be in it, as much as you try.

“I’m just glad to have been able to play an All-Ireland final that Cormac McAnallen would have been proud of. To win any game is good. To win any final is fantastic. To win it when you’re pushed to the limit? That’s the ultimate.”