HARTE ATTACK
‘Football has moved on and critics living in past’ ‘There’s no independent thinking, it’s just boring’ ‘Marquee forward talk is simply a tired soundbite’ ‘Future still a wonderful opportunity for Tyrone’
MICKEY HARTE has slammed critics of Tyrone’s attack and claimed comments about them lacking marquee talent is ‘boring’ and ‘absolutely childish’.
The Red Hands drilled 16 wides during Sunday’s All-ireland final defeat to Dublin – proof for some that they lack the forwards to regain the Sam Maguire Cup.
Conor Gormley (right), Harte’s star half-back in the 2000s, said earlier this year that the team lacked ‘marquee’ forwards.
And there was more criticism of the team’s lack of scoring power after the six-point loss to Dublin.
But after the six-point final loss a clearly frustrated yesterday Harte said: “I just think it’s a tired soundbite, it really is. This thing called marquee forwards, it’s something of the past. It’s not about being a marquee forward, it’s about the number of quality finishers wherever they come from on the field.
“The marquee forward has strength maybe, but it’s also going to be a great weakness. If you have a marquee forward and he’s double teamed and stuffed out of the game, what do the rest of the people do?
“Do they say, ‘Oh, our marquee forwards are not getting seven or eight points, we’re beaten’? I think you need a spread of scorers in the modern game and people capable of taking them.
“And the fact that a forward is only described as marquee because he gets six, seven or eight points in a match, to me, is absolutely childish.
“We have plenty of marquee forwards who are quality players, who can do lots of things with the ball. If somebody wants to give me the definition of a marquee forward,
I’ll give them plenty of them, not people who get 0-6, 0-7 or 0-8 in a game.” Former Tyrone captain Sean Cavanagh ( far right) also claimed that Harte had stifled the development of potentially excellent forwards by persisting with a counter-attacking system.
Harte continued: “The game has moved on and people are living in the distant past. It’s soundbites, it’s just a lack of independent analysis and thinking and it’s actually boring. These sound bites just get rather boring.
“People never really dig into them and say, ‘Is there substance to this kind of statement?’ Give us something better than that. “That’s what being an analyst should be about. It should be about insightful (commentary) and trying to come up with new ways of describing things rather than leaning on some old cliched throwaway soundbite.”
Harte noted that if Tyrone had pinched points with even five of their 16 wides, they’d have hit an impressive 1-19 tally. He said: “Look at what we scored all year without this socalled marquee forward.”
The three-time All-ireland winning boss also claimed there were efforts to remove him as manager three years ago when Tyrone were relegated from Division 1 in 2015.
He said: “I know there was moves afoot to try to get me to go or to get (someone else), the need for change as often happens in people’s minds.”
As for the future, the Errigal Ciaran man said: “This to me is just a wonderful opportunity to experience something really new and to bring a new and young set of players to the highest level if we can.
“I believe it’s possible, they believe it’s possible, we have to go and do what will be required to make it possible.” TYRONE star Conor Meyler is convinced the Red Hands can come back and claim the Sam Maguire Cup.
Mickey Harte’s men face the challenge of ending the dominance of a magnificent Dublin side that won a record-equalling fourth successive All-ireland title with a seven points win. “These things always seem impossible until they’re done, and at least we know that this task isn’t impossible,” said Meyler (left).
“I think we know ourselves what let us down and we have to look at that and try and improve. If every man can improve that five of 10 per cent, individually, collectively, get fitter, faster, stronger, we’ll be a better team overall.
“It’s a massive setback. We’re just going to have to try and regroup now.”