Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has sensationally offered a different insight into why star player Sean Cavanagh failed to start this year's All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Cork.
The 2008 Footballer of the Year did not feature in the game until the last 20 minutes, but was unable to prevent going down to the Rebels. The official line at the time was that he had been unable to start because of a stomach bug.
But in his soon to be released autobiography, Harte offers a different perspective on what happened in the hours before the 23 August encounter, suggesting 'the roof simply caved in' on his player with the weight of the pressure on him.
The Tyrone manager admits to being 'puzzled' when Cavanagh came to him on the morning of the game and told him that he was wrecked and wasn't feeling good and hadn't slept at all that night.'
'I needed to try and see things from his perspective. Apart from a few isolated flashes of brilliance, his form hadn't been great all season. Why was that?,' asked the Tyrone supremo.
'As a player Sean had always delivered. He was an icon for us and that greatness had been rewarded in 2008. Maybe the pressure was stemming from that,' Harte concluded.
Cavanagh is expected to miss the early rounds of next year's National League after undergoing surgery recently.
