Mickey Harte: Mayo have benefited from qualifier route

Mickey Harte refuses to accept Mayo are a weakened force just because they’ve come through the All-Ireland qualifiers for the first time in six years.

Having won the All-Ireland twice via the back-door route, no-one knows more about the healing powers of the qualifiers than the Tyrone manager, who has been in Mayo’s shoes and is wary of the massive threat they pose to his team in tomorrow’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final.

“We have been in that place ourselves,” said Harte.

“We have been knocked out of the championship in the early rounds and grew in stature through the qualifiers.

“Then when you get to the knockout stages, it is no difference how you get there.

“It’s a knock-out game and you don’t have any second chance. Mayo have had their disappointment this season and have overcome that.

“This is where they wanted to be, and that’s a distinctive advantage for them to have mentally at this stage. We’re aware of that – because we’ve been there and done that.” Mayo have built up a reputation as Tyrone’s ‘bogey team’ on the back of two big results, first in the 2004 All-Ireland quarter-final when Harte’s side were defending All-Ireland champions.

They beat Tyrone again in the 2013 All-Ireland semi-final and started 2016 ranked as one of the top three sides in the country. Losing to Galway and missing out on a six-in-a-row of Connacht titles has dented their rating this summer, and they’ve looked ropey at times, particularly in the wins over Fermanagh and Westmeath.

Harte isn’t fooled by the perception they are vulnerable. “I don’t think they will be too worried about the fact the wider public is not recognising them to be playing to the top of their form.

“I think Mayo will be very happy. At the start of the year they were on everyone’s lips as one of the top three teams in the country and likely candidates for the All-Ireland.

“You can’t just dismiss all that and say it’s of no significance because they lost the game in Connacht. That is still the Mayo that started out this season and that is still the Mayo that’s in the All-Ireland quarter-final. And that’s still the Mayo that we have to deal with if we want to be in the All-Ireland semi-final.”

Harte compared Mayo’s run this summer to Tyrone’s All-Ireland winning success in 2008. After crashing out of the Ulster championship to Down, his team slowly built momentum in the qualifiers. They were still rank outsiders when they faced Dublin in the 2008 All-Ireland quarter-final, but stunned the Dubs in a memorable three-goal demolition exercise in the pouring rain in Croke Park. More than at any other time of year, the All- Ireland quarter-finals is when illusion meets reality as provincial champions meet unpredictable, dangerous teams with momentum.

“In 2008 we arrived in the quarter-final against Dublin who were much more fancied than we would ever be for this game – and we all know what happened there,” recalled Harte. “We just hit a good note that day and the rest is history. Mayo have won games to get into the quarter-final without appearing to have given their best performance, but they will be very happy with where they are.”