Mickey Harte, as you would expect from a man approaching the end of his 28th season in inter-county management, insists he won’t be moved by the growing chorus of former Tyrone players turned pundits.

Or by the clamour of voices on social media.

Positive or negative, constructive or cheap shot, none of it seems to worm its way into the mind of a man who has shown a clarity of vision and certainty of thought in reaching a fourth All-Ireland final.

Seán Cavanagh claimed that defensive tactics used by an “autocratic” Harte were hampering the development of the county’s forwards prior to the championship in May.

Owen Mulligan termed his team selection as “criminal” later that same month.

Peter Canavan, Enda McGinley, and Brian McGuigan are among the others to have joined the punditry scene in recent years but their former gaffer beamed a broad smile when asked about the input of those now residing outside the tent.

“It’s embarrassing how well they’re talking about it!” he joked.

“It’s not a big issue. It’s only a big issue if you allow it to be. Everybody has their opinion and sometimes that opinion is solicited from them to make a headline. And I understand that.

“Let that be as it may, I learned a long time ago that we shouldn’t determine how well we feel ourselves by what somebody else says. That’s really handing away the power of your well-being to somebody else.

“So, let people make their comments and, if they have substance to back it up, then I’ll appreciate it. And, if they haven’t, I’ll recognise it for what it is — a cheap shot.”

Harte has sailed through some choppy waters since guiding Tyrone to the last of three All-Ireland finals under his watch back in 2008.

This despite the addition of three more Ulster titles and regular appearances at the back end of the All-Ireland series.

He referenced the need felt by people in the county to reach a final again after the last-four defeat of Monaghan and he made sure to differentiate what might be termed the silent majority from the rest yesterday.

“They’re the people that drive you on. Not really the people who… the snipers who come at you from a distance. That’s part and parcel of the modern world we live in.

“The good thing about it is I don’t have any truck with social media at all. So, there’s an awful lot of people, I’m sorry to tell them, they’ll very disappointed, the stuff they say about me that’s not nice, I don’t even read it.”

Harte was speaking at Tyrone’s pre-All-Ireland final press day at the county’s state-of-the-art Garvaghy HQ and he confirmed that Conor Meyler should be fit to play “some part” in the decider against Dublin on Sunday week.

The versatile Omagh man picked up ‘bone bruising’ to the knee during the Super 8 defeat of Donegal in Ballybofey and missed the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final defeat of Monaghan at Croke Park.

The general view is that Tyrone will need all hands on deck to take on a Dublin team chasing a four-in-a-row and listed as overwhelming favourites. Listening to some would have us believe that the very future of the game itself depends on it.

Comparisons with hurling have only deepened the sense of negativity.

“I think that that’s overplayed somewhat,” said Harte.

“Maybe sometimes people expect too much from the current championship set-up. There’s always been dominant teams, always been one-sided games.

“I suppose again, the hurling people, I would always commend them because they definitely make the most of everything that happens favourably in their department. They don’t miss it.

“Even (Sunday’s) final, for example, the first-half wasn’t anything exciting or not the standard that they would come to expect, but they weren’t bemoaning that fact, they were just saying that ‘this will change, it will get better’. And it did.”

Harte had little to add to a statement issued by RTÉ at 9.01 yesterday morning, just as the press event was to start, that Tyrone’s players and management had declined “to participate in any such media activity with RTÉ and we respect that decision”.

Tyrone have refused to give interviews to the national broadcaster since 2011 on the back of a leaked letter to RTÉ in support of broadcaster Brian Carty and an ill-judged sketch which was viewed as highly insensitive.

“Well, if that’s what they did with those who have the choice over the contact, then that’s fine,” said Harte of the decision to extend that boycott.

“I’m happy with that.”