COLM MADE NET ... GAINS

Cavanagh served up an ace way to prepare back in ‘08

ON the morning of the 2008 All-ireland final, Colm Cavanagh and Johnny Curran hit upon a fun way to start the day.

And so the Tyrone room-mates played a game of tennis just hours before the biggest game of their lives.

Cavanagh and Cathal Mccarron are the last players left standing from that memorable victory over Kerry as the Red Hands gear up for Sunday week’s decider against Dublin.

“It passed me by very quickly,” laughed Cavanagh, thinking back to the events of a decade ago now.

“It was my second season in the set-up and that was the mindset back then, everything was fly by night and take things for granted. Now it’s a little different 10 years on – I’m a bit older and wiser, and things mean a lot more now than they did back then.

“We were young lads and there probably wasn’t the same emphasis back then on the whole preparation side of things.

“We took it upon ourselves to have fun and enjoy ourselves – but looking back it was probably a crazy thing to do. Things have moved on, preparation and relaxation time before a big match is key. Certainly I took things for granted that success was going to flow because this was the norm in Tyrone and it was going to happen.

“But it turned out 10 years later it wasn’t the case.”

After a succession of injuries in what Cavanagh describes as a “turbulent” year, the 31-year-old has now hit top gear. He was outstanding in the recent All-ireland semi-final victory over Monaghan and was awarded the PWC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Month award (above).

Tyrone’s toughest task lies ahead of them, however, as they prepare to face four-in-a-row chasing Dublin, who hammered them by 12 points in the All-ireland quarter-finals last year and have beaten them twice since.

Is it time for Mickey Harte to rip up the script?

“There’s probably a fair enough point in that, we do have to do something different,” said Cavanagh.

“If we keep the same approach, same style, same personnel it may not be enough because it hasn’t been enough to date.

“We have no fear – we have to have a go. If you get beaten that’s fair enough, but if we don’t have a go it’s the worst case scenario.”

COLM CAVANAGH insists there is no issue in the Tyrone dressing-room over his brother Sean’s criticism of Mickey Harte.Sean retired from intercounty duty last year and didn’t hold back in May when, as a pundit, he Colm & Sean Cavanagh helped Tyrone win the 2008 All-ireland questioned Harte’s (inset) development of forwards.Assistant coach GavinDevlin hit back strongly butColm claims there’s nothing personal in any of it.He said: “It doesn’t affect me at all, it doesn’t affect any of the lads. Everyone has a good relationship with Sean, and Mickey’s said he’s entitled to his opinion.“We focus on what we’re doing and there’s no real impact.”

WINNER Conor Mcmanus was the PWC GAA/GPA footballer of the month for July