MICKEY HARTE SAID that his Tyrone side need to build on their brilliant league run before they can be counted as one of the country’s elite sides again.
The Red Hand wrapped up an unbeaten campaign by beating Ulster rivals Cavan to clinch the Division 2 title yesterday.
The five-point win was a championship marker from Harte’s men, who are the 9/4 joint-favourites to win the Ulster title this summer.
But Harte downplayed expectations and said that Tyrone need to earn their place alongside the top contenders in the All-Ireland conversation.
“There are two teams out there after us (Dublin and Kerry) that are playing in a higher division this year,” he said.
“We have to recognise that’s where we’re at. We’re in Division 2 and very happy to be pushing on to Division 1, but there are eight teams in Division 1 this year that are ahead of us.
We’re very happy to be where we are, but it’s a different level to what’s going out after us.
Tyrone’s 1-17 haul against Cavan was spread across eight different scorers, with Ronan O’Neill leading the way on 1-3 and Connor McAliskey contributing 0-5.
Following five wins and two draws in the round robin series, it was the perfect preparation ahead of their championship opener in Derry in four weeks’ time.
That test, rather than any thoughts of a return to Croke Park later in the summer, is the priority for Harte.
He added: “We believe that we’re good enough to be up in the top company, of course we are, but we have to go and prove that time and time again.
“We’ve the Ulster championship to deal with first before we can think about anywhere like this or anything that might arise at this scene. We’ve got to go to Celtic Park which will be no easy task for us.
“Derry have nothing to lose at this stage because they’re not going as well as they anticipated they would be. They anticipated that they would be in a league final but they didn’t make it, they lost a couple of games they weren’t expected to lose.
“They’re in a good position to go in and create an ambush, and we have to be ready for the potential of a serious ambush in Celtic Park. If that happens, all the theorising we’re doing here now will take on a different complexion.”
