Sean Cavanagh of Tyrone celebrates his third All-Ireland win

Sean Cavanagh said Tyrone had proved their critics wrong by beating Kerry 1-15 to 0-14 in the All-Ireland final.

"When we were beaten by Down, people said we were finished and that Mickey Harte was finished," said Cavanagh.

"They told us we could not win an All-Ireland without Peter Canavan and that we should not have brought Stephen O'Neill back.

"They said Brian McGuigan was not right, blah blah. We proved all the doubters wrong."

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Tyrone defender Ryan McMenamin admitted he as close to tears after the match.

"We maybe showed Kerry too much respect in the first half but we came out all guns blazing in the second.

"We dug deep and a lot of guys came to the fore. We had a strong bench and it showed. In the end it was relief more than anything else.

"I am trying to fight back the tears because the stick we took earlier in the year was uncalled for, and the stick Mickey Hatre took as well.

"A few fellows like myself were told we were finished so it is nice to come back and prove a lot of people wrong."

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte said memories of the All-Ireland final 22 years ago helped motivate his players.

"This is special. It is hard to stop a team going for three in a row and it is hard to stop a team of Kerry's quality," said Harte.

"But we had memories of 1986 when Tyrone were almost going to win their first All-Ireland. They were seven or eight points up at half-time and, 22 years later, the people of Tyrone still regret that.

"Kerry stopped Tyrone's first All-Ireland - we had to stop their three in a row."