DICK CLERKIN

Tyrone won’t lack for belief. It’s one of the main reasons they’ve made it this far

OVER the past few weeks, the world and its mother have been busy telling Mickey Harte what he must do in tomorrow’s All-Ireland final. I can’t think of any another final where the tactical approach of one team has been debated so fervently. From the outside looking in, it is all too easy to make brave and bold calls free from accountability.

Harte is unlikely to pay much heed to any of it, and whatever way his team lines out, it will be based on a gut instinct built on years of unrivalled managerial experience.

Just in case Mickey is hanging on one or two big calls, here is my final health check on tomorrow’s rank outsiders.

1. STRENGTHS

Belief. Since the day he starting taking over Tyrone teams, Mickey Harte has always made a priority of instilling belief in his players that they can develop to become All-Ireland champions.

It is one of the primary reasons they find themselves in tomorrow’s decider, while many other counties ranked ahead of them throughout the year will watch on enviously.

Remember many of these current players carry All-Ireland minor and U-21 medals, but unlike the legendary Tyrone minor crop of 1998, it has taken Mickey Harte a little longer to knit a few separate successful underage teams together to be able to challenge for senior honours.

He is also a realist and has openly admitted in recent years when he felt his side simply were not at the required level to compete for top honours. However, no such sentiments exist going into this weekend’s encounter.

2. WEAKNESSES

If Mickey Harte does in fact direct his players to play a more expansive direct style of play, it could be the case that they are too institutionalised in their defensive counter attacking ways to make the transition even if they wanted to.

At times against Monaghan they looked like a team trying to open up and play a more direct style, but didn’t know how to, resulting in poor pass and shot selections up front.

Moving away overnight, from a style of play they have been entrenched in playing over the past three years is not impossible, but to do so effectively is very difficult.

When the pressure comes on in big games, players will often revert to type and play on their instincts. My fear for Tyrone is that their instincts have been honed in a certain way for too long, and won’t change sufficiently to bring what is needed to present a serious challenge to Dublin.

3. PREPARATION AND LEADERS

While much of Tyrone’s progress this year has been down to the continued development of their younger players, they still rely heavily on the experienced trio of Cavanagh, Donnelly and Harte to provide the crucial on-field leadership.

It was only after these three players kicked into form from the Cork game onwards that Tyrone’s All-Ireland stock started to rise.

Box-to-box players in each case, they are likely to pop up anywhere tomorrow, and will roam wherever they are needed. Cavanagh will spend more time in defence, but I can’t see him playing a rigid sweeper role, as he will be needed out the field to disrupt Dublin’s dominant middle third.

Donnelly can be effective at full-forward, so don’t be surprised to see him in there at some stage, were his strength and ball-carrying ability could cause trouble.

Harte is the more naturally creative of the three, but has the tendency to drift out of game for periods. Mickey Harte will need all three ever present and leading from the front if Tyrone are to stay with Dublin.

4. THE MIND GAMES

It is no secret that GAA relations have been strained in Tyrone over the past number of years, with a strong cohort of supporters feeling a freshening up along the sideline is well overdue.

To that end, a cynic might suggest Mickey Harte was behind the scheduling of last Sunday night’s TG4 documentary, looking back on the early years of his managerial career when he sowed the seeds for unprecedented success that followed.

It gave everyone, both inside and outside Tyrone, a timely reminder just why Mickey Harte should be respected to the full, and that if anyone is capable of delivering an upset over Dublin, it is a team managed by him.

5. THE XēFACTOR

Mark Bradley and Lee Brennan have plenty of it among the Tyrone ranks. If these two pocket-sized forwards can get enough early ball inside, they possess the necessary skill and flair to cause the Dublin defence serious problems.

Tales of their scoring exploits in Tyrone club football often leak south across the border into Monaghan. However, Harte has struggled to get the same out of them on the biggest inter-county stages to date.

They are not built for the congested, hard-running battlefields that lie further out from goals, but if given the supply and direction to stay close to goal, they have the ability to provide the necessary X factor Tyrone will badly need to overturn their rank outsider pre-match odds.