GAELIC GAMES:IT'S DIFFICULT to know if the start of the Allianz Football League has come too soon for Tyrone – or not soon enough.

The tragic killing last month of Michaela Harte – daughter of manager Mickey – while on honeymoon in Mauritius won’t ever be forgotten, but there is a sense, too, that their return to football has helped ease the return to normality.

They’ve managed to complete all three games in the McKenna Cup, and will contest the semi-final next Wednesday. In the meantime there’s the more daunting prospect of Sunday’s Division Two opener against Derry in Celtic Park – and with that the start of Tyrone’s quest to return to Division One.

Speaking yesterday about the recent past and the immediate future, midfielder Seán Cavanagh has little doubt Tyrone will have the strength to come through the tragedy; and that includes Mickey Harte.

“Mickey obviously gave us his blessing to get out on the Thursday night, after it happened, and we got out and did a bit of training,” he says. “But we were almost going into the McKenna Cup blind because we didn’t have much training behind us. It did bring us back to Cormac McAnallen, in 2004. You were pulling on the boots and thinking ‘is this right, what do I do?’

“But once you get back out once or twice it almost helps you to get back to some sort of normality. You realise the support that is there for Mickey, his family and the whole of Tyrone GAA at times like this. It’s hard to use the word lucky, but we were lucky that we have been through experiences like this before and we know that we have to get back together and it’s the best thing for us.

“Mickey wanted it and it’s what Michaela would have wanted. She would have loved nothing else than to have been at those matches supporting us. We have another angel in heaven to hopefully drive us on this year.”

There was little doubt in Cavanagh’s mind that Harte would continue as manager, although anyone who witnessed his grief in the immediate aftermath of his daughter’s death must have wondered if he’d ever have the heart for football again.

“When it happened it was so raw you think of Mickey, his family, poor John McAreavey and you wonder will they ever get back to any sort of normality,” says Cavanagh. “But with any tragedy, slowly but surely time will help to heal.

“With all the support that Mickey had, you realise what a strong man he is and how strong a family circle Tyrone and the GAA is. Everyone rallied around and helped him.

“There’s no getting over something like that, but Mickey having been to so many dark places with other tragedies, has been so strong. He is a strong character anyway. He was at the three games last week and you can see that he is getting a wee bit of his appetite back.

“Obviously it will take time for him to get it fully back, but he has good men in Tony Donnelly and Fergal McCann. They are big friends even outside of the football field as well, and they are all helping Mickey through it.

“This group of players has been through Paul McGirr and Cormac McAnallen before and this is another dark chapter in all our lives. We realise that life goes on and football goes on and you have to get back to some sort of reality. Mickey realises that himself and he gave us his blessing to go ahead and that’s what we’re at. Hopefully it’ll be another thing that’ll maybe bond us together a wee bit more.”

Fitness-wise Cavanagh has rarely been in better shape so early in the year, and having reverted to midfield for the McKenna Cup, looks set to retain that position throughout the league.

With veteran captain Brian Dooher also fit and ready for another season there’s no reason to believe Tyrone can’t be the same force of recent years, although Cavanagh admits that life in Division Two will take some getting used to.

“I can still remember sitting on the Omagh pitch and looking at guys and thinking, what’s happened here? Ever since I started playing in 2002 we were always a Division One team.

“Yeah, it was a shock to the system. But we said that day in the Omagh dressing-rooms that we wanted to get back to division one and that redemption starts on Sunday. It’s going to be hard to get there.

“There are obviously some fantastic teams in Division Two but if we can get that blend of experience and youth right I think we should be up there with the best of them.”