MICKEY Harte has talked up Pat Gilroy's Sky Blue regeneration ahead of next weekend's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final between Tyrone and Dublin.

However, he also revealed that the Dubs will have to face fit again forward ace Stephen O'Neill for a spot in the last four of the championship.

The Red Hand boss, who masterminded championship victories over in Dubs in 2005 and '08, says that Gilroy's plan to remould the Dubs has paid dividends and reckons the current model will be a more difficult prospect than the one his side took apart by 12 points at the same stage in 2008.

"It's what he wanted to do, to establish them as a very difficult team to beat rather than a more flambuoyant team to watch," Harte told the Herald.

"They're able to keep the opposition at bay at lot more than they have done in the past. I think he's heading in the right direction. He's a clever man too. He's been able to play his own team down for these new and younger Dubs. They're taking the heat and the pressure off their team and it seems to be working very well."

The teams last met in April in Healy Park, when an early Dubs blitz helped them to a six-point victory and third place in Division 1, a result which also relegated Harte's men.

And the three-time All-Ireland winning Tyrone boss says he will look no further than that match for warning signs.

"We're fortunate enough in that we've seen at close range what Dublin can do when they came to Omagh for the last round of the National League.

"It is a teething Dublin team but in the middle of all that, you still have got a lot of the key players. I think they have got a good mix at the moment of young faces who are hard-working and want to make their mark and others who have been there for a while and who have seriously quality about them.

"We always said that they were the most unfortunate of sides over the last five years, winning the Leinster title but never getting a second chance. This time, they've been in the qualifiers, regrouped and have established themselves as a serious force."

Harte added that O'Neill has taken a full part in the last three training sessions and the 2005 Footballer of the Year could yet start the match.

Quarter-final fixture details had yet to be announced at time of going to press, but there was strong speculation that Dublin/Tyrone would be played at Croke Park next Saturday (4.0), preceded by Kerry/Down (2.0), with GAA headquarters hosting Cork/Roscommon (2.0) and Kildare/Meath (4.0) on Sunday.

- Conor McKeon