Harte left harbouring more than a few regrets

By Brendan O'Brien

Mickey Harte had no issue with the big picture stuff.

A Dublin win was a fair result. No question. That didn't mean the Tyrone manager couldn't harbour regrets on the back of this six-point All-Ireland final defeat. He had more than a few, all told, especially after such a promising first quarter.

Leading by five points to one through 16 minutes, they trailed by 2-7 to 0-6 when the half-time whistle sounded. It was the same sort of concussive barrage suffered by so many of Dublin's opponents in recent years and Harte wasn't the first to be left stunned in the aftermath.

“It seems such a shame that we were so far behind in a very short space of time,” he said afterwards. “The game hinges on small things and I felt even when we were five points to one up that we had picked a few bad shot selections.”

The turning point was the penalty conceded after 19 minutes when Paul Mannion's progess was brought to a halt by Tiernan McCann's clumsy challenge and one which earned the defender a yellow card from referee Conor Lane.

It was a clear foul but not all that obvious to some given more than a few eyes seemed to be busy watching Mattie Donnelly who was making a legal intervention at the same time. Harte, judging by his take on the incident, may have been among that party.

“I only saw it in live time. I didn't have any replay of it or anything else. In live time it looked to me like a serious attempt to block the ball but I don't know. I'm sure a closer view on the television will confirm or deny that.”

Conceding a second goal, to Niall Scully, before the break added further to their problems.

The second-half was always going to be a big ask after that. Tyrone traded blows with Dublin more or less right through that second interval but Jim Gavin's side was perfectly intent to lean on it's cushion and keep the Ulster side at arm's length.

Harte was able at least to find solace in the ending.

The closing stages could have been ugly given they trailed by eight points with seven minutes of normal time to go, but the challengers refused to contemplate the sort of 12-point loss suffered in last year's semi-final against the Dubs.

“They fought to the bitter end and, even in that comeback, we had chances to close the gap better than we did and we didn't do it."

"You pay the price against a quality side but I just can't fault the effort that the players put in,” said Harte.