Kieran McGeary on his relationship with Mickey Harte and his role in Tyrone’s success this year

"He got the ball rolling."

What a year it's been for Kieran McGeary, who just went from strength to strength as the season progressed, playing his best ever football. McGeary won the u21 All-Ireland under Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan back in 2015, but it was Mickey Harte who brought him onto the senior team and helped develop him. Even now, when he's stepped away from the helm, he has been very encouraging to all his former players.

"He's been very supportive all year. I remember seeing him on the pitch after we beat Donegal and he was delighted for a lot of the boys. "He was like, 'Yes lads, you have one more step to win the Ulster here.' Mickey always had his eye for Sam all the time. He nearly put he glasses on you to see what was in front of you.

"He was a big man for imagining it was there. I suppose he got the ball rolling for a lot of the players. He always talked about how you don't have that many years and that it'll fly, it'll fly. "A few of us seen him the night of the banquet. He slipped in and out without saying a word. He's nearly the one that planted the seed for a lot of the players that are there.

"He slipped in and out and said hello to whoever he got to see. It was fantastic. He's a great man and deserves all the credit he gets."

When asked if winning the All-Ireland this year would have been possible if Harte was still in charge, the Pomroy man didn't rule it out.

“I think it was. Big McShane was back, Conor McKenna was starting up, we had a number of new boys. “It’s hard to honestly tell. At the start of the year, people were probably saying that Mickey made a good decision stepping away from the Tyrone team.

“But we started to pick up a bit of momentum, pick up a few championship wins. “There are no guarantees to say it would have happened and nothing to say that it wouldn’t if Mickey was still there.”