The Red Hands have not won a major competition since their last Ulster Championship success in 2010, but their NFL Division Two triumph could be the start of a renaissance, Harte believes.

“You can play all the good football you want, but people will say, ‘what did you win in terms of trophies’,” he said following the 1-17 to 0-15 win over Cavan at Croke Park.

“That has been levelled at Tyrone in the past number of years. You have good runs in the championship, get to semi-finals, but where is the Ulster titles, where is any title of any kind apart from the McKenna Cup.

“People are dismissive of us for that reason, so this is a step in the right direction, with trophies of substance, and I count the Allianz League a league of substance.”

Harte said he is happy to have gone through a tough Division Two campaign unbeaten.

“Division Two was a very difficult challenge this season, because we had so many Ulster teams, for one, and in our case we had to go away to Laois, away to Galway and away to Meath.

“It didn’t look anything appetising at the start of the season, so we’re very pleased to have all that behind us and we have got to where we are.”

Meanwhile, Cavan boss Terry Hyland alluded to errors which cost his side.

“We battled hard but we made mistakes and that is what cost us. In transition we gave away three or four scores with an intercepted handpass or a bad foot-pass so it gives us something to work on. We are little disappointed we weren't closer in the end,” he said.

Hyland envies the Red Hands, and wants to see his team develop in the same mould as Harte’s side.

“Yeah it's probably their game plan a long number of years and we are starting out. They haven't really changed the game plan in the last seven, eight or nine years and they are adept at doing it and their players are more used to it when they come into the system.

“From a positive point of view we had a lot of young players for whom it was their first time in Croke Park and I thought some of them acquitted themselves quite well.”