Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh has admitted that the qualifier system has been good to the Red Hand and that they can't wait to run out at Croke Park to face Dublin.
The backdoor route saw Tyrone walk off with Sam Maguire in both 2005 and 2008, and Mickey Harte's side have again taken the scenic route to this weekend's quarter-final against Dublin.
He told The Irish Star: "It probably does take something like the qualifiers to draw the best out of yourself.
"You hear people saying 'you're done, the team's finished'. Any player that's over 30 that has a bad game is finished.
"Things like that do hurt the players."
The Moy man feels that the current squad has a healthy balance of youth and experience.
He added: "You can see that some of the younger lads have had a chance to be blooded and they are coming through well. We have a really good balanced squad."
Tyrone and Dublin have been involved in some epic battles in recent years and Cavanagh can't wait for this one.
He said: "There's history there. It was always going to be tough but at the end of the day drawing the Dubs in Croke Park, it's that fairytale draw."