TYRONE BOSS MICKEY Harte defended his captain Sean Cavanagh in the wake of his sending-off at a crucial stage in yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Harte insisted that the Tyrone talisman was not instigator of the incident that resulted in his first yellow card after the interval of the game in Croke Park.
“I know this for sure, Sean Cavanagh doesn’t go looking for cards, never did in his whole career. It seems a shame that he would be victim to somebody else enticing him into that arena.
“He doesn’t go looking for anything, I can say that for sure with no fear of contradiction. he never went looking for a yellow card in his life.
“It seems a shame that a man at this stage of his career, has given so much to the game, can fall victim to that kind of stuff.
“If a forward wants to go and attack and it ends up in a wrestling match, well then that’s not the forward is going to instigate that. Officials make decisions, and this thing of ‘there’s always two involved’… There isn’t. It’s always somebody starts it. They need to be more tuned into who starts these things.”
The absence of Cavanagh hit Tyrone hard as they were forced to operate with 14 men for the remainder of the match.
“In a game of that nature, and to lose with a man like Sean – we just didn’t lose any player, we lost our captain, the most experienced player we have – it left us under severe pressure,” outlined Harte.
“Credit to the boys who played as long as they did and kept us in the game, because that was a huge loss to us. Not only his presence on the field but his ability to conjure up that winning score.
“You just can’t win games of this nature without a man like that on the field.”
Attention will turn to the Tyrone inter-county future of 33 year-old Cavanagh.
“We wouldn’t be expecting it. Sean is in a bad state at the minute and at this stage of his career that he is at, the effort he has given, it would not be a good time to ask him.
“I hope he takes time out to reflect on what’s there for him and who knows what that will tell him.”
Tyrone can reflect on a season where they collected three trophies – Dr McKenna Cup, Division 2 league and Ulster senior – but the disappointment of this loss will nag at them.
“It’s always good to win trophies and we got a few of those this year,” admitted Harte.
“I think it is good for players’ confidence, winning competitions. This is the big one, obviously, and we haven’t done the business in the big one.
“We will have to regroup and think our way through the first half of the year next year to see how we can position ourselves to win the provincial title next year and, in turn, go into the All-Ireland series and give it a real rattle.
“That’s the standard, it’s been set in Tyrone. Ultimate success is what people want and we will have to try to deliver that.”
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