Donegal manager Jim McGuinness explained his reasons after dropping Michael Murphy for last Sunday’s Allianz League clash with Galway in Salthill.

After making a triumphant return for the Ulster champions off the bench against Armagh in Round 3, Murphy didn’t play a minute at Pearse Stadium as the visitors lost their first game of the campaign by seven points, allowing the Tribesmen to leap them to top spot in Division 1.

Fellow Tir Chonaill stars Ryan McHugh, Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Paddy McBrearty and Michael Lanagan also played no part in the game and, speaking to DonegalLive.ie, McGuinness revealed why some of his best players sat out the defeat.

“We’re just trying to manage him (Murphy) and build him as much as we can. Michael Langan's improving. He's not that far away. He's probably another couple of weeks away in terms of where he's at,” said the 2012 All-Ireland winning boss.

“Paddy had a wee bit of a niggle, and Eoghan Ban, Ryan McHugh, a couple of the rest of them. We’re just freshening them, to be honest with you.

"They’ve played a lot of football, they’ve played every game in the pre-season and they’ve played every game in the league.

“We have a number of players returning this week into the squad, which is positive. We’ll focus on that and work with those lads over the next couple of weeks.

"We’ll take the positives from today. We’ll take their learnings as well.”

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