Mickey Harte’s faith in his tactics has been key to silencing his Tyrone critics, according to Liam Kearns.
Tyrone suffered humiliation at the hands of Dublin in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final and have drawn criticism for their style of play from former players.
The Red Hands face Monaghan at Croke Park on Sunday looking to condemn memories of previous defeats to the past.
And current Tipperary boss Liam Kearns hailed Mickey Harte for having the confidence to believe in his style of play.
“He hasn’t thrown out the system – which he said he wouldn’t – and he has stuck to his word,” Kearns told the Saturday Panel.
“He’s getting more off the bench which has definitely made a big difference. I think his injuries have cleared up, he lost a lot of good players early on, and they’re coming back at the right time.
“But he hasn’t changed the system of play a huge amount. I would say they are a little more offensive and their transitioning is a bit better.
“But ultimately they will set-up defensively and ask teams to come on to them where they’ll hit them on the break. They are tremendously good at hitting you on the break.
“They’ve got huge fast players who will finish at the other end. But let’s be honest – they could have gone out to Meath. They were very lucky to come out of that even if they were the better team.
“But they’ve built it up gradually and I think they’re in a very good place now. But I felt they would give Dublin a real good game last year and they didn’t.
“They’ve lost three All-Ireland semi-finals in the last decade. They’ve won All-Irelands and so has Mickey Harte but their record in semi-finals hasn’t been good in the last decade.
“This is a great opportunity for Monaghan but you still come back to the fact that if you hold [Conor] McManus and Rory Beggan, will Monaghan have the answers elsewhere?
“And for that reason I’d probably be going with Tyrone.”
James Hopper
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
