Kieran McGeary says Tyrone want to prove that All-Ireland success in 2021 was not a fluke

As the dust settles on the 2021 season, the scale of Tyrone's achievement is beginning to sink in.

The Red Hands' stunning success was capped on Friday night by eight All-Star awards, and Kieran McGeary's Footballer of the Year triumph.

But focus will soon switch to 2022, as they look to become the first ever Tyrone team to defend an All-Ireland title.

"You're trying to back up what you've done," McGeary outlined.

"You don't want anyone thinking that it's just a one-off, or we got lucky, or we missed playing the Dubs. You don't want people to come out with anything like that to be honest. You want to be able to prove you were honourable for the title that we achieved.

"So we'll have to be back at it, work hard, no guarantees of anything.

"It's all going to be tough."

You don't want anyone thinking that it's just a one-off, or we got lucky, or we missed playing the Dubs.

So can they achieve back-to-back All-Ireland titles?

"That was the first thing that went through everybody's head when the final whistle went [against Mayo]. All the supporters, all the media. Everyone was saying, can they do the back-to-back?" McGeary said.

"We genuinely just enjoyed the moment. But now, when you're coming away from all the hype of it, it is time to start thinking about that. But if you use that as your motivation, the whole year, it can distract you from what tasks you have in front of you. Getting to an All-Ireland final again is a massive step, never mind winning your first round.

"So I'd imagine that will be something we will speak about slightly. But we have a huge mountain to climb before we would look at that. It would be nice to do, you enter the history books as being the 2021 All-Ireland winners, but it would be nice the first team to do it. But there's absolutely no guarantees so there's not.

"The bullseye is on our head now."

From his own experience of preparing to face Dublin recent years, the Pomeroy club man knows that teams raise their game when facing the All-Ireland champions.

"I know that myself. It used to be always different when you played Dublin. Your week's training, your week's nutrition, your sleep, your attitude, your focus, your skillset. Just everything changed. Everything improved, because of who you were playing, you knew who you were up against," he opined.

"If teams didn't bring that mentality to Healy Park or didn't welcome us with that mentality wherever we have to do this year, then I'd be utterly shocked. You're never going to lie down to the ones that are at the top of the table.

"There'll be more work needed. Hopefully we can live up to the expectation of the people of Tyrone.

"We all know that this team is potentially in a good position to do the same again. I think any team that wins the All-Ireland will be sitting in a position and saying the exact same. But you still have a lot of work to do. You still have to have a few tricks up your sleeve. You can't just go back to a game and expect it all to work."

But for a few more weeks, McGeary will enjoy the fruits of his labours, having become the fourth ever Tyrone player to have been named Footballer of the Year.

"It was a nice phone call to get from Richie Hogan saying I had been voted as Footballer of the Year. It tops off what was a special year," he said.

"It's mad that I would join the names (Peter Canavan, Stephen O'Neill and Sean Cavanagh). I work with Peter on a day-to-day level. So it's nice to be in any of their company to be quite honest, to have your name up with three great men who have been there, done the business. It's still hard to believe."