TOTAL FOOTBALL

Harte has always maintained the modern player should be able to play in a variety of positions. For Mattie Donnelly now, read Enda McGinley. For Peter Harte, read Brian Dooher.

It was Gavin who identified PaddyAndrews, previously regarded as a back, as a finisher. At under-age level, BrianHoward was considered amidfielder but he has been used this season in both half lines.

Harte has always been keen for his cornerbacks to press forward and score and Gavin has those attacking defenders in the likes of Philly McMahon and Johnny Cooper.

ANTI-FOOTBALL?

Look at the fine totals these two teams are scoring and it’s strange to suggest they are not playing football the way it should be played.

Yet, Dublin were booed by Donegal fans for playing keep-ball in the closing stages last Saturday, seven years after the Dubs heckled Donegal for doing the same.

“The idea that Dublin are some still some kind of advert for flamboyant attacking... for total football, is a delusion that too many are willing to uphold,” Jim McGuinness commented in The Irish Times last Tuesday.

Tyrone are sticking with double sweepers when they lose possession and you imagine given the bullheaded nature of Harte’s comments since last year’s All-Ireland semi-final that he will want to prove his methods do work.

RTÉ

Harte’s long-standing row with RTÉ goes back over seven years.

Seán Cavanagh’s criticism of his former manager earlier in the summer might have been treated with more respect had they not been delivered on The Sunday Game. Gavin has fallen out twice with the national broadcasters:

Last year, when he took issue with their analysis of Diarmuid Connolly’s push on linesman Ciarán Branagan, a stance Harte backed, and earlier this year, when he refused one-to-one interviews because RTÉ could not provide a DVD of Tyrone’s Division 1 game against Galway.

DEBUT SEASONS

Both managers swept the boards in their opening years, Harte claiming Division 1 and All-Ireland honours, as Gavin did 10 years later.

Both of their teams finished top of Division 1 after the round stages with five wins, while they each claimed six victories on their way to claiming the Sam Maguire Cup. In 2013, Gavin was also the first Gaelic football manager to pick up the Phillips manager of the year award since Harte in 2005.

FOOTBALL FRIENDS

The Dublin camp’s relations with other counties wouldn’t be all that warm. As regards Mayo and Kerry, they are close to polar-cold, but it’s known that Dublin and Tyrone are two groups that get on reasonably well from a management/backroom team perspective and haven’t been averse to sharing information.

It sure makes a difference from the mid-2000s.

SMALL MARGINS

Whatever about last year’s one-sided All-Ireland semi-final, there has been little between the pair during the league, an average of one point per game in Dublin’s favour.

MUTUAL APPRECIATION SOCIETY

Gavin on Harte (2017): “At this time of the season, you are always coming up against great managers and Mickey has been outstanding.

From his provincial successes in Ulster to the All-Irelands that he has won and, even in recent times, the McKenna Cup back in January. They have won a lot of silverware under his stewardship and, yes, it’s going to be a tough battle against them.”

Harte on Gavin’s team (2017): “It’s the best Dublin team that I have faced inmy championship career at senior level. I think youhave to give them that now. I wasn’t sure before today if that was the case, but I thinkI can be quite sure of that now.”

DONEGAL

We mentioned shared information earlier and some of that may have related to Donegal, who were the bane of Harte’s life in 2011, ’12, ’13 and ’15 and remain the only blot in the championship copybook of Gavin, the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final. All but one of those defeats came against the aforementioned McGuinness.

PROTESTS

Each has defended their teams against charges of cynicism, but their words often run contrary to their players’actions. The Dublin display at the end of last year’s final wouldn’t tally with Gavin’s 2013 line: “I would be loathed to think anyone would say Dublin are cynical. I would take a step back if that was the case. We promote them to play good football.”

Harte has questioned the necessity of the black card, while Gavin prefers the alternative of a sin bin. In keeping with the Alex Ferguson managerial mentality, both will not admit when a player of theirs has done wrong.

ANTO FINNEGAN

The former Antrim player was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease six years ago and both men have supported his determination to raise awareness of it. Both posed with him minutes prior to last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.