HARTE: THE DUBS JUST BLUE GOOD

MICKEY HARTE insisted this Dublin team is the greatest he has faced in his 14-year reign after the Blues dished out a football lesson to Tyrone to keep their All-ireland three-in-a-row dream alive.

The Dubs will face Mayo in the final on September 17 after delivering a masterclass on how to deal with a blanket defence – and ending Sean Cavanagh’s 15-year intercounty career on a sad personal note.

Con O’callaghan’s fifth minute goal (above) provided the platform for a patient and experienced Dublin side to maintain a winning Championship run that now stretches to 28 matches over three summers.

“It’s the best Dublin team that I have faced in my Championship career at senior level,” admitted Harte. “I think you have to give them that now. I wasn’t sure before today if that was the case - but I think I can be quite sure of that now.

“We missed a penalty, there were various things that would have made the scoreboard more respectable, but it wasn’t going to hide the truth that Dublin were far superior today and that’s a fact we have to accept.

“And maybe it’s a good insight to know what standard you need to get to now if you want to play at their level regularly.”

Harte added: “We had a good idea what they were going to do but you never know the ferocity with which they’re going to come at you until you’re toe to toe with it.

“We never experienced that in any of the League games we’ve played with this particular group of players. But this was a different level today. They had a real energy and a real drive and it’s something that we hadn’t seen face to face.”

Harte reiterated after Tyrone’s third All-ireland semi-final defeat in six years that he wanted to remain in charge, although that will now go down to a vote within the county after he didn’t receive the extra year he wanted in 2015. He said: RUTHLESS LESSON Padraig Hampsey cut a broken man at Croke Park