Tyrone will roar back, vows Harte
JUST a year ago, Mickey Harte was facing up to one of his biggest off-field challenges.
His Tyrone team had just been dismembered by a rampant Dublin in an embarrassingly one-sided All-Ireland semi-final, 2-17 to 0-11, and as the O’Neill county prepared to take stock of the year and consider the position of team manager, there were fears that Harte’s tenure was at an end.
Indeed, in some quarters he was already taking a standing count, such was the depth of feeling precipitated by what was deemed a humiliation at the hands of Jim Gavin’s side.
But, not for the first time in his life, Harte underlined his resilience, courage and character by gaining a new three-year term at the helm of a side he had restructured, although without achieving the level of success attained by his formations of 2003, 2005 and 2008.
Now, while there is understandable weeping and gnashing of teeth following Sunday’s setback at Croke Park, the irrepressible Harte is already strongly focused on recapturing what is viewed as the most prestigious trophy in Irish sport.
His burning desire to take Tyrone to the top of the tree again is allied to his strength of character in a straight from the shoulder message that should leave no one in any doubt in relation to his intentions.
“The first year of my threeyear term is just over and I have no real desire to walk away from it all. No, not at all,” says Harte with considerable passion.
Already he plans to take in matches in the Tyrone club championship, and he believes that his present squad, which may well be tweaked with the passage of time, is still capable of recapturing the ultimate glory for a football-mad county that has been en fete since the semi-final win over Monaghan but in which normal business has now resumed.
When Tyrone were forced to eat humble pie in last year’s semi-final, Harte lost no time in undertaking a detailed assessment of his team’s performance in conjunction with his backroom staff.
That same process is currently being undertaken once again against the backdrop of a strong desire to see shortcomings remedied for a full-frontal assault on ‘Sam’ in 2019.
“The players put in tremendous work, they are a dedicated bunch of athletes,” maintains Harte. “They gave it their very best and, but for a few things that happened during the course of the game, we might have had something special home with us.
“If I was putting money on anybody to do this in the next short while then I would say this is the place to put it.”
And while Harte has already accused the media of indulging in the use of ‘throwaway cliches’ in terms of assessing his team’s dysfunctional shooting, it is certain that this is an area he will address going forward.
The 16 wides his players shot on Sunday amounted to self-destruction, negating the good build-up work that had been executed in creating the scoring opportunities in the first place.
And Harte does not make any excuses for this particular flaw, which ultimately sapped his side’s morale and left their fans in almost total disbelief.
“We have to learn to do things better and we have to keep believing we can challenge at the highest level,” insists Harte.
“People have to think on their feet under pressure. It’s a new experience for a lot of our players. They’ll have to turn this to the good for the future.
“Whether or not we get back onto the All-Ireland stage again in a short time remains to be seen.
“You always aspire to be back for days like All-Ireland final day because it is such a pleasure and a privilege to be involved,” he adds.
“It’ s where we want to be, and we have to challenge ourselves once again to get there, but I feel this is doable.”