Tyrone's Mickey Harte wary of Armagh momentum

Mickey Harte says he fears an Armagh side that has been building momentum through the All-Ireland Qualifiers.

A famous Ulster rivalry will be renewed in Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park, and the Tyrone boss has admitted he is impressed by the steel and resilience shown by the Orchard since they crashed out of the Ulster Championship. He also likened the Orchard resurgence to his own team’s 2008 odyssey, when they fell to provincial defeat to Down, before going on to win a third Sam Maguire Cup title.

“They’re actually growing with the qualifiers, as we well know,” said Harte. “We went out in 2008 in the Ulster Championship, we grew in confidence, and we got that bit of momentum as the games kept coming and, actually, you get a chance to manufacture your team more through the All-Ireland Qualifiers. I’m not saying I would choose that route, I would still rather be on the straightforward road.

“But when you’re on that road, there is a great chance to mould your team with each game, you make changes and probably find your best team as you go towards the end of those Qualifier rounds, and I think that’s probably happening with Armagh.

“After getting beaten in the first round of the Ulster Championship by Down, they have shown great resilience in the belief that they have in themselves, and you can see that belief coming out now in the soundbites that are coming from the players. They’re talking about what they have achieved, they’re talking about what they’re capable of, and that’s to be admired and to be respected.”

Tyrone will have been inactive for three weeks since their Ulster final win over Down, while Armagh have been on the road, building with every game as they saw off Fermanagh, Westmeath, Tipperary, and Kildare in the Qualifiers. Harte is somewhat apprehensive over his side’s readiness to find the groove once the ball is thrown in on Saturday afternoon.

“After Saturday we’ll know whether it’s the momentum of a team coming through the Qualifiers or a team that has won games and should have got a little more credit. We won our games, we had the time between games, we weren’t playing week-in, week-out, and if we get the result, then that will be the way to go. At this point in time, either could be true.”

Epic battles between Tyrone and Armagh during the noughties will be replayed in the minds of supporters of both counties this week as they prepare to return to the scene of some of those unforgettable occasions, namely the 2003 All-Ireland final, and the Ulster final and All-Ireland semi-final of 2005.

Tyrone lost none of those cliffhangers, and have two All-Ireland titles to show for their supremacy over their neighbours in those years.

“There was an enormous rivalry in the noughties, and ourselves and Armagh really were dominant forces in Ulster and indeed at national level at that time, we were winning national titles.

“So there is a bit of a back to the future mentality about it, and I think Tyrone and Armagh still brings out something in the supporters of both counties, and in the neutrals as well, to think that this will be an entertaining game. There’s plenty of history there to look back on.”

But they weren’t all good days for the Red Hands, and the balance has swung towards their neighbours in recent seasons.

“The 2014 Qualifier wasn’t a good day for us. We have a recent history that says this is going to be a challenging encounter. If you take recent results in isolation, then Armagh have the upper hand, and we have to endeavour to take that back from them.”

Jamie Clarke’s display against Kildare provided one of the abiding memories from last weekend’s festival of football at Croke Park, and Harte knows the brilliant Crossmaglen attacker must be contained this weekend.

“He’s undoubtedly a talented player, and we have seen that for years and years. His career was interrupted with travels here and there, I suppose with the demands he has had from his club because Crossmaglen were so successful, maybe the county didn’t get the best of him over those number of years. But I think now that he’s actually focusing on his county career, he’s a leader, he’s a quality player, he has the ability to be a dangerous inside player and he is a good playmaker as well.

“So he has lots of things that you would like in a player, and dare I say it, if there was a transfer market, he would be hot property.”