Tyrone manager Mickey Harte says he's very much in the appreciation camp of Mayo considering what they've achieved in recent years.
Harte's Red Hands face off against the Westerners on Saturday with both sides gunning for a last four berth in the race for Sam Maguire and the Errigal Ciaran clubman suggested that the Connacht giants' shortcomings in All-Ireland finals isn't what they should be judged.
"Mayo are a very difficult opponent because they're probably the top team in the country that haven't won an All-Ireland," Harte is quoted saying in today's Irish News.
"That in itself is a great incentive because people will speak that way about them but also people will say how many finals they lost.
"You could turn that on its head and say: 'There are lots of teams and counties who would love to lose as many All-Irelands as Mayo did' because they can never get there.
"Is what they've achieved something to be dismissing them about, or is something we should be appreciating about them? I'd very much be in the appreciation camp. I think they've very talented footballers; they play a very open and expansive game - a game that is unpredictable in many ways and perhaps they are the most difficult teams to deal with."
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