Tyrone star Peter Harte pictured at a media event ahead of the All Ireland SFC Final.
By Orla Bannon
Given his age and surname, Peter Harte would have been forgiven if he'd felt a little unsure of himself walking into a star-studded Tyrone changing room in 2010.
His teenage years were spent watching his uncle Mickey achieve what for many decades had seemed the impossible in Tyrone, winning All-Irelands, with his cousins Mark and Davy playing roles in those special years of 2003, 2005 and 2008.
The latter was best of all and Peter Harte helped make it so, as the county also won won the All-Ireland minor title.
It was a victory which began his 10-year journey towards this, a first All-Ireland SFC final appearance – something that was routine to the multiple medal winners he joined as a wide-eyed 20-year-old. Privately, one or two may have thought he was there because of his family connection but it never took a flinch out of this flame-haired playmaker.
"Ah, I thought it was kind of easy because there was just so much quality around.
"For me, I was like a fan basically coming in, because my first night training I was kicking the ball to Brian McGuigan and Stephen O'Neill and it was a dream, like.
"Mugsy, all them boys. You're just in absolute awe, these are the boys you've watched the last last ten years. These are just your heroes. So it was class to come in.
"I think, at the time, Collie Cavanagh was getting a lot of flak from Tyrone supporters... that he shouldn't have been there, he was only on because (of his brother Sean) … and he's maybe the best player in Ireland.
"I don't know, it's one of those things I never let get too much in on me, because you just have to have trust in yourself. And, I'm happy if Mickey thinks I'm good enough."
Throw in the fact that Harte is now engaged to Aine, a daughter of Tyrone legend Peter Canavan, and he's not short on family advice, if he cares to go looking for it.
Peter Harte is an influential figure for Tyrone.
Asked how much wisdom the six-time All Star and 2003 All-Ireland winning captain imparts, Harte smiles: "bits and pieces". "As a child he was just a hero to anyone who grew up close to here.
"I don't think you had to be from Errigal (Ciaran) to be a massive Peter Canavan fan.
"I remember during an Ulster club run we had one year, half of Tyrone was at Errigal games because Peter was such a big draw and people wanted to see him play.
"Now he'd have the odd bit of advice for you, but he leaves most of it to Mickey and Horse (Gavin Devlin) and how they want you to play."
Although Tyrone won an Ulster title in his first season in the squad in 2010, Harte's early years were during a period of transition for Tyrone.
He lasted just six minutes of his first All-Ireland semi-final in 2013 due to injury and further disappointment followed in 2015 and 2017 before finally getting over the line against Monaghan three weeks ago.
The back-to-back Ulster titles in 2016 and 2017 have also been a pathway towards this first appearance in a decider since 2008.
And despite last year's 12-point hammering by Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final, he says Tyrone won't abandon their principles or defensive caution as they try to topple Jim Gavin's four-in-a-row chasing champions.
"It's probably more tweaking than going leftfield because if you haven't tried something and you go and try something, if it blows up in your face you look very silly. We haven't changed the way we play, much, in the last three-four years. Everyone kind of knows that.
"So, I just can't see us throwing that out the window and going for something totally different. From our point of view, they’re the best team of ever. And that’s your target – to beat that team.
“So, we’re under no illusions that it’s the biggest task in football. It's the biggest task probably a Tyrone team has ever faced.”
