Some pundits claimed they had fallen back after last year’s All-Ireland final appearance but McNamee ignored such claims.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” he said of the negative comments about the team. “It’s the usual story and we are used to it at this stage. If you were easily offended, you wouldn’t bother togging out.”

All the same, McNamee would have been stunned to have discovered back then that Tyrone would be so close to reaching the final.

“I don’t think anyone would have thought that. Football is a funny game and you can’t read too much into January football or February football, even though some people think differently. You go out early and have a couple of losses at the start of the year and the season was nearly over (in some people’s eyes). “If you read too much into it or listened to what was outside your training zone, you would nearly hang your boots up.

“There was an absolute gale force blowing in Roscommon. You wouldn’t have put a fox out of a hen-house in it and boys were trying to play football. It was a 10-point wind, easily, at half-time and we were glad of the point at the end of it.”

Against Dublin on Saturday, McNamee saw team-mates Cathal McShane and Peter Harte claim and score three offensive marks between them.

Paul Mannion scored one at his end, though, and as a defender he’s not a fan of the rule. “I just hear whistles going left, right and centre... it just confuses you more than anything else. But they might throw another rule in next year and you have to adapt again.

“It’s a pain in the hole. As if the game is not hard enough to mark Mattie Donnelly or Cathal McShane or Dean Rock without throwing a mark in that gives forward a chance to kick an easy score.

“The game was hard before and it is 10 times harder now.”

The Aghyaran man took huge pleasure from beating Dublin at the weekend but is loathe to read too much into it. “Everybody else strives to hit the heights they are at. They set the bar ridiculously high for everyone else. They are a class act the way they play football.

“Kerry beat them and Monaghan beat them and now we have beaten them.

“I suppose it gives you a wee insight into how you can beat them but like I say, it is March. You get a pat on the back today but you might be pissed on the next day. That’s the way it is.”

Sunday’s game against Galway in Omagh could be Tyrone’s last before the effect of Brexit starts to impact the North but McNamee is keeping an open mind. “I am sure we will get over the border some way if we have to, we have done it before,” he smiled. “I am not sure too many people know too much about it. It is their (UK) mess, let them sort it out. I am glad I have nothing to do with it. Plenty of smart people will be able to organise it themselves. It could potentially cause issues because everything has been so simple and continues to be so simple.

“It is a strange one and it is not something I have thought about. “Maybe, you take things for granted at times but it could potentially cause a lot of issues and hassle down the line but I am sure there might be flights from Belfast to Dublin or something!”