GAELIC GAMES CHAMPIONSHIP 2008:IF PEOPLE imagine Tyrone are a diminishing force in the football championship a short conversation with Mickey Harte would soon have them thinking otherwise. The Tyrone manager can be relied on to give a calm and measured assessment of where things are at, so it must be something of a warning sign when even he gets a little giddy with the excitement of the championship at hand.

It's been a while since their opening game arrived with so little fanfare, and although they are expected to beat Down in Omagh on Sunday, general expectations beyond that are modest.

Harte, naturally, is unconcerned. All that matters to him is that his team are going well and are practically at full strength for Sunday. And sure the more people write Tyrone off this summer, the better it is for Tyrone.

The fact is they are the reigning Ulster champions and only narrowly fell to Meath in last year's All-Ireland quarter-final. But what has Harte a little more excited than usual is that he has almost all his top players available - including Brian Dooher and Brian McGuigan - and that makes a welcome change from the extensive injury lists of recent summers.

"Brian Dooher has had to work very hard to get over his injury," says Harte. "To some extent, he was the kind of guy that would play through the pain barrier anyway, so to have him fully fit is particularly encouraging. He's been able to manage most all the sessions lately.

"Brian McGuigan too is showing no worries after the serious injuries he had. That's only good for all of us as well.

"Owen Mulligan is definitely out with a hamstring problem, and Raymond Mulgrew hurt his shoulder last week, and he won't start either. But other than that it's only a few niggles here and there.

"So I'm delighted that for once I don't have to go on to my second hand here to talk about the injured players. It used to be an issue of trying to remember how many players were injured. Thankfully, we've only the two now, so we have to be quite comfortable with that."

But for Harte, who will finalise his team at training this evening, it's not simply the strength of his panel that has him excited; it's the time of year - despite it being his sixth year in charge, the thrill and anticipation are the same as when he first took over.

"Absolutely. If that wasn't the case - if you didn't come back with fresh ideas, fresh enthusiasm, and embrace the new challenges - I know I'd be doing a disservice to everyone involved with Tyrone football. If it does ever become a chore or burden then definitely I'd walk away. It's still just as exciting. This time of year, this is the only place to be."

He'd rather not reveal exactly what those "fresh ideas" are. But it's not that he's trying to reinvent Tyrone football; his philosophy on training remains the same, and when Tyrone take to the field on Sunday we can expect it to be business and football as usual. Tyrone still know only one way to play the game: hard and fast.

Harte never bothered with the training holidays, and throughout the long break since the National League he has kept a careful cap on the sessions: "We did have a weekend at Carton House, in Maynooth, but the players had club football since as well, and it was back to collective training for the past five weeks. So we've done nothing outrageous, no. We like to keep it as level as we can.

"We'd liked to have made the league final again (they ended up fifth in Division One). But after three games we had only one point and gave ourselves a serious uphill battle. We'd a lot of people absent though who are available now.

"It was a rebuilding period to some extent, through necessity, and with players back now, the bonus is a lot of those other players got game time who might not have got it otherwise."

Also typical of Harte is his great respect for the opposition, and although Down failed to get out of Division Three of the league, he's expecting a full-on assault on Sunday: "People were talking about the different divisions in the league, but as we've seen so far in the championship, that doesn't matter.

"Down, traditionally and in my time growing up, set the standard in Ulster. They have a track record in the championship. We don't forget that. Championship is special to Down. The players now are in the shadow of those that won All-Irelands, but they have to step out of that sometime.

"They have quality players: Benny Coulter, Liam Doyle, and big Dan Gordon. They have a great record now at minor and under-21 level, so there's quality in that side.

"It's easy for me to talk them up, but that's just calling it as it is. Down at senior level have underachieved, but trends change."

Truth is, however, that only a big win for Tyrone on Sunday would put them back in the spotlight as championship contenders.

Right now the hype is turned off, and for the first time since they won their last All-Ireland, in 2005, they are not the raging-hot favourites for the Ulster title, let alone the All-Ireland.

"Well, sure we have no control over that," says Harte. "That's for the bookies and the pundits and the general public. If you're tipped then there's the expectancy. If you're not tipped then either people don't trust you anymore or else people haven't got their eye on you. Only time will tell which . . .

"We'll just concentrate on playing our best, and sure if we do deliver, the men that make these predictions can change their mind very easily."