Ahead of this year's All-Ireland SFC decider, Tyrone boss Mickey Harte says the winning of the Sam Maguire Cup is in his team's own hands despite what the television pundits might have us believe. Those who know Tyrone boss Mickey Harte a lifetime say that while the O'Neill County boss may wear glasses, he's not one to be found wearing blinkers. Even allowing for the inevitable pyscholgical 'cum public relations war in the run-up to this year's All-Ireland SFC decider, one simply can't imagine the Sam Maguire Cup-hunting supremo donning a prejudiced or phoney mask. Harte doesn't do phony anythings even when faced by such tactically aware 'opponents' as Joe Kernan and Paul Caffrey. The manager who-would-be-king (again) is blessed with the eloquence of a bible belt preacher, the diplomacy of a tactile parish pump politician and equipped with the sort of (Mick) O'Dwyer-esque charm which makes him a journalist's dream ticket. And so far in his by now three year term as Tyrone boss, he has proven himself to a dream leader for players and fans alike. So does he never get riled? What about the stuff meandering its way north from down south about the prospect of the upcoming final somehow playing host to 'a southern style of football' in opposition to its northern equivalent? "I think those sort of comments are largely without meaning and I think there's really been too much made out of that sort of thing. "Some people try to take as much out of the contrasting styles of the various teams as they can. "To my mind though whether you adopt a past or a modern style of football or whether there's a mix of both we're all counties playing the same game and trying to get the right, winning formula. "I think it's very easy to put labels on the style of football adopted by different counties but the reality is that most counties play 'off the cuff' type football, a broader type of game than what might have been evident in the 'fifties and later on. "I've no doubt the game evolved and moved on from the 'fifties style and football has continued to move on over successive decades since." As to talk of Kerry needing or wanting to beat a team from Ulster in the final to make it a 'real' All-Ireland SFC triumph, Mickey suggests such banter is a complement to his team. With him though the respect and admiration is mutual. "Kerry would have been most people's fancy at the start of the year. "It would have been foolish to look beyond them. "Kerry won everything last year and if any team can carry off the expectations of a nation then it's a county with 33 All-Ireland senior titles under its belt. "Kerry are better positioned than any other county to cope with being perennnial favourites to carry off the big prizes." Interestingly the Tyrone boss believes that his charges will be taking on a Kerry team in this year's blue riband decider which is a better Kerry side than that which lifted the Sam Maguire Cup last year. "I don't think there's any doubt but that they have improved over the course of the last twelve months. "They made their mark last year after a few barren years and they're obviously determined to fine tune their good work from 2004." Is Mickey, as a manager, a notch or two wiser, more astute etc? "I would be going backwards if I hadn't learned something and improved myself as a manager. "I'd need to improve because my opposite numbers have been improving on a constant basis too." And what of the notion that the quality of football games dished up over the last couple of months have been top-class and a big step up on the fare produced earlier in the year by even the top-ranked teams? "Certainly I would agree that there have been more good games this year as the championship has gone on and while I hope that this pattern continues in the final. "I think the back-door system has helped in that regard with the beaten provincial finalists being allowed two weeks to recover and you'd have to say that the best eight teams in the country came through and were able to produce some of their best form at Croke Park." A good final in prospect? "I think the cream has risen to the top and I've no reason to doubt but that it'll be a good game of football. "Kerry are a very fine side and they've shown they can play very good football. "I'm not saying we're going to have a high scoring and thrilling encounter. "A high scoring game isn't necessarily a good barometer of a great, quality game but I would love to see a lot of scores in a great quality match." It's been a long, long and sometimes tortuous campaign for Tyrone this year but our man Harte denies that his charges are on the cusp of burn-out or total fatique. All sorts of variables, like which team is the freshest, come into play of course in determining who emerges on top when teams of equal stature clash on the most level of playing fields. Even the weather perhaps? "Yeh, we've gotten used to playing on dry days with a dry ball and little wind and in that respect we've probably been spoilt, especially on our trips to Croke Park. "Another dry day would be very welcome and very helpful; I'd love a dry day for the final. "But the bottom line is that we have to perform in whatever weather conditions prevail on the day of the final. "After all if it's pouring rain, Kerry will have to do deal with it as well so once it's a level playing field, we'll not mind too much." It's two years since the two teams clashed in Croke Park at championship level and memories of that claustrophobic, tense and frenetic day remain fresh in the mind of the Tyrone manager. "I think both teams have introduced a degree of innovation and have altered their styles of play since that game. "The game itself has changed. "Positions mean little or nothing in terms of what is expected of players and the way they operate and adapt to evolving situations during a game. "I think there's a greater fluidity about the football played these days and I think the games have become more entertaining as a consequence." Wily, cautious and sensitive to the demands of an increasingly expectant support, Mickey is, predictably, wary of forecasting a result for the September 25th decider. What about the chances of a draw being the end result? "Possible, of course. How long has it been since there was a draw in the All-Ireland? "We've had too many draws this year. We've had three already and we don't want to be part of a fourth. "Having said that, I might be happy to take a draw when the final is drawing to a close." Already Kerry have been made firm favourites in some quarters to defend their All-Ireland SFC title. It seems the 'experts' are of the belief that this year's national decider will be a bridge too far for what must be a battle weary Ulster side. The hugely experienced Tyrone boss is unperplexed by how others are calling the final. "The television pundits are calling it as they see it and that's what they are paid to do. "That's their perogative but their comments or opinions don't concern me. "Just because a pundit gives his personal opinion, it doesn't make the call any more likely to be correct. "Like Kerry we have no control over who is landed with the favourite's tag and I don't know whether having the label around your neck that is a good thing or not. "The bottom line is that a team has to do the business on the field irrespective of what pundits say and irrespective of what factors might weigh in their favour at any given time. "I just hope we do the business against Kerry . . .but that's up to us, no one else." Tweet

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