GAELIC GAMES TYRONE FOOTBALL: MICKEY HARTE has clarified remarks made in his newly published autobiography where he suggests the real reason why Seán Cavanagh failed to start their All-Ireland semi-final against Cork last August was because "the roof simply caved in".

It was reported at the time that Cavanagh was simply suffering from a stomach bug but, in the opening chapter of Harte, which is published this week, the Tyrone manager points to a more severe underlying problem; the "culmination of a year's worth of pressure and expectation leaning on him".

It is clearly a sensitive matter, and while Cavanagh did end up playing for the last 20 minutes, Tyrone ended up losing to Cork – surrendering their All-Ireland title in the process. Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Harte didn’t exactly change his tone, but he did feel the remarks had been somewhat misinterpreted in book extracts that ran in certain Sunday newspapers.

“Well you know when extracts of a book come out, people are going to search to find something that would make a bit of a headline, a bit of a diversion, or whatever,” he said.

“The facts of the matter are Seán didn’t play for us against Cork. He wasn’t feeling the greatest on that weekend, and I’m interpreting that there was a number of circumstances that maybe contributed to that for him.

“But for somebody to suggest then that I am casting aspersions on what Seán is about would be grossly unfair. Because every opportunity I get in this book I speak well of many, many players, including Seán. And I would always be very conscious of the fact that he’s been central to all the success that Tyrone has had since 2003. And he’s got All Stars and All-Ireland medals to prove it, and Players of the Year.

“So I would never, ever doubt his commitment to Tyrone, his quality as a player. I would say Seán is wise enough to understand that headlines can be made, but I think he should know me well enough now to know what I think of him.”

Harte also stated he hasn’t had any contact with Cavanagh since the remarks have been published, but he didn’t anticipate any further fallout.

“I think there are lots and lots of things in the book that speak very highly of very many people, and there’s not going to be much (for me) to have to stand over.”

But Harte did expand on what exactly he meant by “a year’s worth or pressure and expectation” – which obviously started with Cavanagh winning the 2008 Footballer of the Year:

“He’s got a busy profession, and he’s getting married this year. Sometimes that makes people busy too. And he had commitments with the GPA as well, as secretary, which I’m sure took his attention. You just can’t be in that role and not have things that you have to be about as well.

“Indeed he had an (ankle) injury this year as well, which was niggling at him, and people never really knew about. So when you add all these things up, and obviously he wasn’t feeling the best that night before the game, I would say a combination of all those things didn’t help him to be the player that he always is, on that particular day.”

Ultimately, said Harte, the pressure of being Footballer of the Year got to him: “People in those positions might say it doesn’t, but I say it does. I think it puts pressure on them because the expectation out there is that they’re to be top-class performers all of time, which we know doesn’t happen.

“Maybe they themselves are striving to be that kind of player every day they go out, which doesn’t happen either. Because he wasn’t player of the year from the beginning of last year, to the end. He built himself to that position. It’s like players winning the All-Ireland.

“You remember the All-Ireland team, and their All-Ireland performance, but if you viewed that in January, it doesn’t remotely resemble what the finished product in September is.

“So it’s the same with a player who achieves that status, or level of performance. It didn’t happen in a switch ‘on-off’ button. Therefore to begin your new season at that level is very, very difficult. And their mentality probably is ‘I am this player of the year, I’m supposed to deliver this level’.

“It doesn’t work that way. I’m not saying this is the way Seán is thinking, but I think it is reasonable, from a distance, to assume it could be a contributing factor, to a pressure, that he mightn’t even be fully aware of, but it actually could be a pressure on him.”

Yet Harte has no regrets about the timing or content of his book, and was quick to add that it wasn’t the end of his story either.

“I just felt there was enough substance there to be of interest, enough stories to be told, that I felt were valuable. I don’t see anything as a finished product anyway. I think everything is a process, a journey, and I’m on a particular journey. . . .

“Whatever you do, there will always be ways that people will pick up on something you say. Maybe exaggerate, or make something sensational, that isn’t really meant to be.

“That’s the gamble you take. But I don’t think you can be shackled by things like that.

“I would depend on my own integrity. I’m not into the business of telling big stories just to make things some way sensational, or to sell. I’d rather tell the real story, as far as I interpret it. Also, the real story is that you can make mistakes any day of your life. And people will interpret things that you do as mistakes, or whatever. You’re open to that when you write a book.”

As a parting shot, Harte also looked forward to the challenge of toppling Kerry – again – in 2010.

“Our players have this total respect for Kerry, but they have no fear. And sometimes there is a fear in teams about an opposition, about their jersey, whatever it is. At this moment in time the squad we have don’t have that fear.”

“It doesn’t mean to say we will continue to beat Kerry, but they have that so-called reservoir of experience that says ‘we can win big games like this against the best in the business’.