It’s been like a holiday for us with games every week, insists Ronan McNamee

‘BEATING DONEGAL IN BALLYBOFEY IS AT THE TOP OF THE LIST’

IT IS a losing streak that has taken the shine of Mickey Harte’s 16-year reign as Tyrone manager and it is one that has deprived his players of the stage they crave. Nothing defined their hard-nosed reputation, as ruthless winners under Harte, quite like the manner in which they got the business done when it mattered most.

Three times in his first six years they made it to the last four of the All-Ireland SFC race, and each time they walked away with the big prize.

But today will be their fifth time in the last 10 that they have made it to the semi-final and they have not been back in the final since their last All-Ireland triumph of 2008.

It is quite a stat for a team who have been considered almost permanent members of football’s top-four club that the showpiece day has eluded them since.

It means that only Colm Cavanagh, who came off the bench in ’08 has tasted that final feeling.

And it is something that the rest covet, admits full-back Ronan McNamee.

‘It is the biggest prize for any footballer to grace the field on the game’s biggest day,’ says McNamee. ‘Not everybody is lucky enough to get that opportunity.

‘We have had that opportunity a good few times and we have never taken it.’

From those four semi-final defeats, Cavanagh, Peter Harte and Mattie Donnelly have played in three of them, while McNamee has had that losing feeling twice – last year and in 2015.

For all the talk of Monaghan’s desire to get back for the first time in 88 years, Tyrone have no need to leaf through history’s pages to find motivation.

They have lost those four semifinals for a cocktail of reasons.

They were knocked off their throne in 2009 by a strong Cork team, but might have made a better fist of it had illness not denied Sean Cavanagh a starting role.

Mayo were simply too good for them in 2013, while composure – botched goal chances and missed frees – cost them against Kerry two years later.

Last year was a write-off from the moment Dublin’s Con O’Callaghan ghosted past McNamee’s outstretched hand in the fourth minute to slip the ball to the net. Why should today be different? There are many reasons, not least that they’re facing a team they have already beaten twice in Croke Park this decade.

But they have also been playing to a rhythm that suits them. They have won two of their All-Ireland’s under Harte coming through the back door and this year’s condensed schedule – today represents their eighth game in 10 weeks – has brought momentum.

‘It is a bit like a club on holiday only that you are playing for your county,’ explains the Tyrone defender. ‘You are constantly seeing each other, you are going for coffee, you are going for lunch, you are working, you are training.

‘If you go away for the weekend, you are constantly in each other’s company. You could not beat it.

‘It is great because it is football, football, football. The players could not want for anything else, just playing and playing and playing.

‘Boys are getting game-time and putting their hands up which means that Mickey has a sore head for seven days trying to pick a team but it is a good headache to have.’

There is an intoxicating sense that they are building towards something and everyone wants to be a part of it.

Like McNamee who, after a nasty collision with his team-mate Connor McAliskey in the three-point defeat to Dublin, was a doubt for last weekend’s winner-takes-all clash with Donegal with a calf injury.

Nevertheless, he went from walking in a moon boot – with the aid of constant icing and lit candles – to running within nine days to make a match he just couldn’t miss.

Aghyaran GAA club is a couple of Niall Morgan restarts from the border with Donegal, his mother’s home county, which might explain why he was hoodwinked into supporting the Tir Chonaill men in his childhood.

These days he lives for beating them, especially in Ballybofey, where Tyrone had not won since 1973 prior to last Sunday.

‘Personally speaking that result it is at the top of the ladder,’ he admits. ‘I have played in Ballybofey a good few times and got nothing out of it.

‘I have played challenge matches here with Aghyaran, so I have been around the pitch for quite a while.

‘There would be no love lost over the 70 minutes but there is total respect afterwards. But, if you break it down, it is just another win at the end of the day,’ he insists.

And it will count for nought if they don’t win today.

Their Croke Park record and the fact that they will be desperate to avenge their Ulster tips the verdict in their favour, but McMamee urges caution.

‘They will not fear us. They never have. They came to Omagh and beat us and they have beaten us in Clones before while we have beaten them in Croke Park.

‘When it comes down to it there is a kick of the ball between the two teams. They will definitely not be losing any sleep over us, I would put it that way.

‘Fingers crossed, we will go out and give it a good rattle. Monaghan will be thinking the exact same, they will not be taking a step back.’

Perhaps, but it is Tyrone’s time to step forward.