BULLETPROOF
I’m immune to snipers’ insults, says Tyrone boss Harte
MICKEY HARTE insisted yesterday he will not be distracted by former players taking ‘cheap shots’ ahead of Sunday week’s All-Ireland SFC final clash with Dublin.
Harte has defied critics to bridge a 10-year gap by leading Tyrone back to football’s biggest stage but, in the process, he has taken heat from a couple of his former players.
Three-time All-Ireland winners Owen Mulligan and Sean Cavanagh have not spared their former boss this summer with both questioning his judgement.
Mulligan labelled Harte’s team selection for the Ulster SFC quarter-final defeat to Monaghan as ‘criminal’ when the veteran boss was forced to take off Colm Cavanagh and Tiernan McCann — both short of match-fitness in the aftermath of long, injury-enforced lay-offs.
But it was his former captain Cavanagh whose criticism cut deepest as he described Harte’s management style as ‘autocratic’ and accused him of undermining a generation of attacking talent as a result of his rigid defence based gameplan.
‘Let people make their comments, and if they have substance to back it up, then I’ll appreciate it. And if they haven’t, I’ll recognise it for what it is — a cheap shot,’ said Harte yesterday, speaking at Tyrone’s pre-final press conference at the county’s centre of excellence in Garvaghey.
‘It’s only a big issue if you allow it to be. I mean, everybody has their opinion and sometimes that opinion is solicited from them to make a headline and I understand that.
‘Let that be as it may, I learned a long time ago that we shouldn’t determine how well we feel ourselves by what somebody else says. That’s really handing away the power of your well-being to somebody else,’ he added.
Harte’s sense of well-being has been validated by taking his team back to the final in the face of criticism, which extended beyond former players. This is his 16th season in charge of the county, but as recently as two years ago he saw a proposal — to extend his term — voted down by clubs at a county board meeting.
But Harte was adamant yesterday that it is the support of Tyrone’s hardcore supporters that he values most and not the ‘snipers’ who have taken to social media to vent their opposition.
‘There’s lots of very good people who support Gaelic games in our county. They’re there come hell or high water, and they’re the people that drive you on. The people who truly are there and we know them. They’re there early before games, and they’re the last person leaving.
‘Every club and every county has people of that nature, and they’re really the people that you do these things for. So we’re really happy when we do well, we know they feel good inside.
‘And they’re the people that drive you on. Not really the snipers who come at you from a distance.
‘That’s part and parcel of the modern world that we live in. The good thing about it is I don’t have any truck with social media at all. So, there’s an awful lot of people, I’m sorry to tell them, they’ll be very disappointed, the stuff they say about me that’s not nice, I don’t even read it, I don’t know it, there’s no value in it.
‘They might as well not do it … it’s only good if you take it on and make it feel like it hurts you. It doesn’t have that impact on me,’ added Harte.
Meanwhile, Harte confirmed that Tyrone’s seven-year boycott of RTÉ would remain in place in the build-up to and aftermath of Sunday week’s All-Ireland final.
The national broadcaster marked yesterday’s press event, which they did not attend, by releasing a statement.
‘Tyrone GAA have informed RTÉ Sport that the Tyrone management and players do not wish to participate in any such media activity with RTÉ and we respect that decision,’ it read.
The breakdown in the relationship between RTÉ and Tyrone is sourced in the leaking of a letter sent by Harte to station chiefs in which he expressed his support for the broadcaster’s Gaelic Games correspondent Brian Carthy in 2011.
Those tensions were compounded by an ill-timed comedy sketch on the John Murray radio show later that year which concluded with the playing of the song Pretty Little Girl From
Omagh six months after the murder of the Tyrone manger’s daughter, Michaela.
Harte was dismissive yesterday when advised of RTÉ’s statement.
‘Well, if that’s what they did with those who have the choice over the contact, then that’s fine, I’m happy with that,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Harte said that Conor Meyler, who missed the semi-final win over Monaghan after sustaining bruising of the bone in his knee in the win over Donegal, is likely to be fit for the final.
‘Conor obviously had quite a knock and he’s working very hard to overcome that, and the signs are positive that he will be available for some part of this final,’ said Harte.
‘Their opinion is solicited from them for a headline’