Jim McGuinness says he was of the belief his Naomh Conaill clubmate Finbarr Roarty was eligible to play in Donegal’s season opener against Armagh.

Roarty played in the Dr McKenna Cup game a day before his 18th birthday, but the rules state that all senior inter-county players must be that age by the start of the calendar year.

McGuinness was duly hit with an eight-week suspension by Ulster GAA, but it was rescinded following a sitting of the Ulster Hearings Committee last Thursday night.

"It was one of those situations that you don't want to be in. Really, an administrative error. Something that should have been picked up and wasn't picked up," the Donegal manager told RTÉ.

"We had a situation previously where we always took the best minor. And that was the case with Finbarr as well. Ryan McHugh would have filled that category, Patrick (McBrearty), Marty Reilly, Odhrán Mac Niallais, all those lads. That's where I was coming from with Finbarr.

"We believed that he was eligible to play. We had a game against Roscommon before Christmas and he wasn't part of the squad that day because we believed that once the turn of the year came that he was eligible.

"So it was just one of those things, but thankfully we're back on track."

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