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History will count for nothing against Kerry - McAliskey

Connor McAliskey in action against Monaghan on Saturday
Connor McAliskey in action against Monaghan on Saturday Connor McAliskey in action against Monaghan on Saturday (Hugh Russell)

CONNOR McALISKEY insists that Tyrone’s excellent record against Kerry in huge Championship games at Croke Park will count for nothing when they meet again.

The barrel-chested corner-forward blasted five crucial points on Saturday evening as the Red Hands secured an All-Ireland semi-final showdown with the Kingdom, a repeat of the 2005 and ’08 finals.

The August 23 encounter will also be a reprise of the 2003 semi-final when Tyrone ushered in a new era of dominance by battering Kerry into submission with a memorable display of ultra intensity. But McAliskey said the reality is that it’s a different Tyrone team now with only a couple of players still involved.

“I remember sitting in the Hogan Stand or with friends on the Hill watching all those big games,” he said. 

“It is another historic game now, given how much history the fixture has, but history doesn’t determine the future.

“We’ve got two weeks to prepare for playing Kerry and it’s just going to be another game of football. These are two different teams to those sides of the 2000s. You look at how young we are now, there wouldn’t be too many boys who were even playing inter-county football at that stage.

“Kerry are obviously the All-Ireland champions too and you only have to look at how they’ve been playing so well, so we’ve got a huge job on our hands.”

Smashing stereotypes has rarely been a problem for Tyrone under Mickey Harte though. They refused to be intimidated by Monaghan’s Ulster title success and stifled them all evening with a terrifically controlled display.

Save for the first five minutes, Tyrone led from pillar to post and utilised McAliskey and Darren McCurry superbly as they registered 11 points between them. McAliskey said he’s enjoying being part of a thrilling full-forward line triumvirate that also contains three-time All-Ireland winner Sean Cavanagh.

“Myself, Darren and Sean Cavanagh are up there in the full-forward line and we’ve really got a good understanding of each other now,” said McAliskey.

“Sean has shown how good he is over and over again and he’s still doing it. Darren is just a great footballer, every week he’s doing the same thing, delivering each time and that makes all our lives a lot easier I can tell you.”

Tyrone have benefitted from the Qualifier series of games, generating momentum with a settled bunch of players who appear to know exactly what is required of them in all sectors of the field.

“At the start of the year we planned to win Ulster and go the straight route but after Donegal we had to sit back and regroup and realise that we still weren’t that far away,” said McAliskey. 

“To be honest, our aim was just to be playing football in August. The Sligo Qualifier game came in August but that wasn’t the game we wanted to be playing. But we built up well to be here and now it’s just about taking the next step.

“If you ask any player they’ll say they want to be playing football every couple of weeks, just get that momentum building and the boys have worked so hard all year. It’s time now to put the shoulder to the wheel and give it a couple more final pushes.”

The positive vibes are in stark contrast to just months ago when they relinquished their Division One status in the National League.

“We just got a couple of draws when we probably deserved to win,” reflected McAliskey. 

“Like down in Croke Park against Dublin, we weren’t that far away and in the final round we played Kerry and drew, we weren’t that far away that day either. Yeah, we got relegated but we definitely took the positives out of it and made sure we built on them in the Championship.”