By Paul Keane

Tyrone's Conor Meyler has opened up about the two words that were etched on his wrist for the All-Ireland final and which defined his Championship campaign - sweat and courage.

The hard working half-forward was one of Tyrone's key players throughout the summer and has been named PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for September.

Meyler will inevitably be in the conversation for the overall Footballer of the Year award having impressed with solid man-marking while also retaining a vital attacking threat, playing in the ball for Cathal McShane's All-Ireland final goal.

Omagh man Meyler wore a wristband with the words 'sweat and courage' written on it during the final and explained exactly what that meant to him.

"Sweat and courage are two words I picked out earlier in the year," said Meyler. "To sweat is to work hard, to grind, to graft and fight for everything, to make sure you've emptied yourself. Then the courage is just to be brave, to take a risk.

"I had that written on my wrist throughout the Championship but people probably only saw it for the final.

"They are two words that meant something to me. I don't even always see them but at times, it might be at a water break or at half-time, it's just a reminder to keep going then.

"When I look at myself after a game, it's what I'm judging myself on, 'Did I bust myself and did I give everything out there? Yes. Was I brave and did I take risks? Yes.' I can look at myself and be happy with that then, regardless of the result. I can be proud of myself in a sense.

"I probably couldn't do that at times in the past where I wasn't taking enough risks or being brave enough."

Despite winning the All-Ireland and the individual accolades coming his way, Meyler still doesn't view himself as necessarily among the game's elite.

"This is all a bit surreal for me," he revealed. "If I think of individual awards, I think of boys like Mattie (Donnelly) and Peter (Harte), maybe. Then when you hear people talking about All-Stars, I'm like, 'I'm not in that bracket'. That's your David Cliffords and your Brian Fentons'. For me, it's about sweat and courage - that's what I base my game on."

Meyler also lined out in the 2018 final and said this year's decider was an entirely more enjoyable experience, not just because Tyrone won but because he could actually enjoy the buildup.

He shocked medics back in 2018 by recovering from a broken tibia in just four weeks to play against Dublin in the final.

"Completely different experiences, personally and as a team," said Meyler. "I think we're a lot more mature now. At the time, we probably got caught up in the hype and definitely weren't ready for it.

"The lessons we learned then were invaluable because most of the team are still playing. For me personally, I obviously couldn't enjoy the buildup in 2018. I completely shut myself off from the rest of the world.

"I was just so focused on getting back. I'm quite intense or driven when it comes to things like that, I don't want to leave any stone unturned. I was sleeping in an oxygen tent to get more oxygen.

"I don't know if any of those things actually helped or worked but I did come back from a broken leg in four weeks and played midfield in an All-Ireland final.

"But you could tell that I hadn't trained. I had one training session before the final. It was probably my own ball skills and that that let me down. Having had time to prepare and to enjoy it this time, it was a big thing. I said to myself, 'I'm going to enjoy this experience'."

Meyler revealed that he worked hard this year on 'just being myself and being authentic'.

"I still see myself as the same person, just Conor Meyler, but people maybe see me differently now, as Conor Meyler the All-Ireland winner, which is strange and is probably going to take a while to get used to," he said.

Comparing 2018 again to 2021, Meyler said that the team may have taken their eye off the ball to a degree in the run up to the final against Dublin.

"We probably enjoyed the idea of being in an All-Ireland and maybe got carried away with yourself," he said. "There are a lot of media duties and banquets and stuff like that, there was probably a lot of talk about that (in 2018). I put in a message to the group, earlier in the week of this year's final, to say, 'No social media. Leave media down to management and focus on the football'.

"Because inevitably the mind will take you elsewhere, away from the game, and I just wanted to treat it like any other game. Don't call it an All-Ireland final, it's just another game.

"We nearly got caught up in the occasion rather than the match, in 2018. The experience of being in a final and losing one stood to us though as we learned from our mistakes and, in the end, we cracked 2021."