Mickey Harte insists there is no danger of Tyrone underestimating Carlow tomorrow.

The veteran Red Hands manager has been watching the 'Carlow Rising' from afar and is expecting a tough battle in Netwatch Cullen Park.

"In the past if someone had said we're going to be playing Carlow, we'd have hardly known much about them or if they existed at all, but there's definitely not the case now," he said in the Irish News.

"We've heard lots about them and have seen plenty of footage, we have to study that in-depth and see how we deal with what they have to offer.

"We played our football team in Division 1 and in theory should be able to beat a Division 4 team, but Kildare were in the same position and didn't beat them. There's been a lot of teams in lower divisions who have beaten teams of a higher position in the current season.

"Yes, the favourites' tag will be with us, but we have to live with that and go out and get a result.

"Being favourites won't win this game for us, but it's not something we have control over so we have to carry that tag into the match and ensure we act like favourites."

Harte added: "They've made good progress this last number of years under Turlough O'Brien and that is to their credit as for 35 years they didn't get out of Division 4. That didn't just happen this year, they've been building this last number of years and Steven Poacher has come in and gave the team that sense of organisation. They've grown in stature and quality.

"It got them to a Leinster semi-final, it's got them to a number of championship games last year, they put Monaghan to the pin of their collar at the same venue we're going to."

Follow our match tracker for a bumper weekend of action including three provincial finals and eight qualifier games from the All-Ireland football championship.

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