ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL KERRY v TYRONE: Ian O'Riordanfinds the atmosphere relaxed and good-humoured at Tyrone's press night in Carrickmore

ST COLMCILLE'S clubhouse somewhere on the outskirts of Carrickmore - serving up chicken goujons, ham sandwiches and the Tyrone press night. Another gloomy, wet evening. Players spill in and mingle and chat as if it's their high-school reunion.

Conor Gormley is cornered next to a life-sized oil portrait of himself. Ryan McMenamin holds the middle of the room like a stand-up comic. Seán Cavanagh is just listening in on the entertainment.

It's a strange and unusual affair and in some ways makes a mockery of what's at stake.

"Will I mark Paul Galvin if he comes on?" says McMenamin, repeating the question. "Nah, I don't want to get too close to Paul. I tried getting close to Paul another time and he knocked me on my ass. He's well-built, a hardy bugger. So I'll try to stay away from him. But if Paul comes on he comes on. I just think we'll all say hello to him when he comes on."

Gormley is asked about the life-sized portrait, which Carrickmore - his home club - commissioned last year. "There was a smaller version as well, which they gave to me," he says. "There's no room on the walls or mantelpiece at home anymore."

When, inevitably, McMenamin is asked about the cultivated facial growth of himself and some of his team-mates, Cavanagh is first in, suggesting it's "just a Chuck Norris want-to-be".

"Sure, we'd a meeting one night and one of us asked 'what can we do different this year?'" explains McMenamin. "And I answered, 'grow beards'. I just thought it would be a bit of craic. A few boys are doing it now. But then there's a few that it just wouldn't suit. Sure a beard wouldn't suit big Seán there. He's too much of a pretty boy for that."

Such casualness is a little disconcerting. With all the banter it's difficult to sense the deadly seriousness of this Tyrone team, only you know it's there. Gormley remains one of the most potent defenders in the game, his block on Steven McDonnell in the 2003 All-Ireland final one of the immortal moments of defensive football. As centre back, his role on Sunday is pivotal.

"Mickey Harte just gives us a job to do," he says, simply, "and you just go out and do it the best you can. Kerry have the best forward line that's been about these past few years. They can take the low ball in, the high ball in, any way. They're going to be a real handful, no matter what individual you're marking. So it's just about going flat out for the full 70 minutes.

"It's all about ourselves. We can't worry too much about them. We can't worry about who is marking who. Playing careers are short enough, though, and you want to grab as many trophies as you can. This is the chance for a third All-Ireland. You can't let that pass you by. But we're two very experienced teams. It's a toss of a coin, really, on who could win it."

Though only 27, Gormley has been the heart of the Tyrone defence since the current team broke on to the scene seven years ago. It's been a rollercoaster ride since, and he accepts that Tyrone weren't widely rated as All-Ireland contenders earlier in the summer.

"That was maybe fair enough. Derry were league champions there. Monaghan were going very well. Armagh still there too. So we probably were down the pecking order, our league performances not that good going into the championship. And maybe that was reflected in the Down game.

"It's strange, though, the way the year has worked out, and I think it proves that any team can beat anybody else on any given day. But the Dublin game certainly changed it all for us. That was just the performance that we needed at that stage. It showed what the team is capable of. Maybe we didn't produce it at the start of the year, but sure you can't complain if we're producing it at this stage. I think the Dublin performance really helped our confidence grow again as well. We seem to be coming good at the right time."

McMenamin is not the sort of player to suggest a crisis in confidence, yet he admits there have been some testing times of late: "It's been a funny summer, a weird summer. I don't think I've ever experienced so many lows. And then all of a sudden such a high. Before the Dublin game, the humour in the whole county was that this team should be put out of its misery, put down, shoot these boys.

"Then we beat Dublin, and I never met so many people saying to me 'ah, we always fancied you' . . . or 'we knew you were going to do it'. That's football for you, that's supporters . . . A lot of people were writing us off at the start of the year, and if anything it helped us come in under the radar."

No longer the specialist corner back, McMenamin now plays a much wider role, often finding himself up in the half forward line.

"I think I was getting too many roastings in the full back line, so they had to move me! It's hard to explain. I just do what's good for the team. That just means you don't know where I could be on Sunday.

"But you can mark the Gooch too often as well. As long as I have Seán Cavanagh with me, the whole thing is all right."