Canavan should be fit for final, says Harte

TYRONE manager Mickey Harte remains optimistic that his captain Peter Canavan will be fully fit for this Sunday’s All-Ireland final against Armagh.

Harte is picking his team for the historic all-Ulster clash tonight and Canavan is expected to be named.

Speaking in Dublin yesterday, where he picked up the August Vodafone player of the month award on behalf of Brian Dooher, Harte said Canavan’s ankle has improved in the past couple of weeks and optimism is growing that the talismanic full-forward will start.

“Peter is coming on very well, he is receiving the best possible treatment and his physicians are quite hopeful that he will be ready for Sunday. It would be unthinkable if Peter was to miss this game.”

Harte, who was joined by Brendan Cummins who collected the hurling award for August for his outstanding display against Kilkenny, was in relaxed humour, but the issue of Canavan’s fitness overshadowed the award.

“It will be a collective decision, it will be a personal decision by Peter, a management decision and a team decision. We will talk about it and whether Peter plays or not will come out of that. Right up until we name the team, we won’t know what the decision will be. We know what we would like it to be.”

Harte took his Tyrone team on an over-night stay last weekend, as a dry run for the All-Ireland final weekend. But his mind was pre-occupied not just with Canavan’s injury, but also the shoulder injury suffered by defender Ciaran Gourley in training last week.

“For Ciaran, it is a race against time and he doesn’t have much of it. Ten days doesn’t leave a lot of time to do something about the injury. Personally, he is optimistic. But we will have to see how the thing evolves as the week progresses. But as I say, he is quite hopeful.”

As the final nears, Tyrone has hit fever pitch. Harte, however, feels his team are far enough removed from it not to be bothered.

“When you get to an All-Ireland final, there is a certain amount of hysteria in every county. It happens as people prepare for the game, and the supporters deserve to be involved in that mood. But they have to allow us to divorce ourselves from that hysteria, and I think the fans understand that.”