Former Tyrone goalkeeper John Devine believes Mickey Harte's current side have forged their own identity as a team.

Devine, who won three All-Ireland SFC titles under Harte during the 2000s, was in attendance at Croke Park last Saturday to watch the Red Hands advance past Monaghan into an All-Ireland semi-final and he feels that the team deserve major plaudits for their achievements this summer.

"People talk about great teams from the past, but every good team starts somewhere and every great player was a young player himself, so with those players today who have come through a really tough battle, they're starting to write their own identity now," Devine told The Irish News.

"They're starting to give that team its own identity and they deserve credit for that. They knew themselves it was going to take a lot of hard work and everything else that goes with it - the skill, the determination, but now I think a lot of people will sit back and take notice of them."

Kerry have been cast as considerable favourites, having been priced at 3/10, for the August 23rd showdown at HQ. However, Devine is adamant that Tyrone will hold no fears going in against The Kingdom.

"I would say this Kerry team, under new management with an All-Ireland behind them as well, will not fear this Tyrone team coming forward, although back in Omagh this year in the League, Tyrone pushed them all the way," he said.

"But why can't Tyrone beat them? Tyrone are a young team, full of talent, now starting to create their own identity within the game and they're working very hard. Every great team starts somewhere and why can't ours start now?"

He added:  "The other thing about it is, when you go out to play a team like Kerry or Monaghan, there has to be match-ups. You have to make sure their danger men are marked closely. The Monaghan team had players like that and Tyrone got the match-ups right and I have no doubt that Mickey (Harte) will get the match-ups correct again for Kerry.

"I think Mickey deserves an awful lot of credit. There would have been very few people out there who would have given him or that Tyrone team any chance of reaching the last four at the start of the year. And again he has proved the doubters wrong and he deserves an awful lot of credit for that."

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