Jim McGuinness is delighted that Christy Toye is playing football again.

Sunday week's Ulster SFC opener against Tyrone will come too soon for the St Michael's clubman, who hasn't featured for the All-Ireland champions since September's All-Ireland decider at Croke Park.

In the meantime, Toye has been struck down by a chronic condition known as Trigeminal Neuralgia, but McGuinness was thrilled to see him return to club action last week:

"The situation with Christy is that he's only played a couple of minutes for his club but is very positive because he has come through a very tough time," the Donegal manager tells The Irish News.

"The virus that he has picked up is a pretty serious situation. It is a thing that can stay with you for life.

"Sometimes it runs its course over the course of six to eight months and in other people it never leaves you, so it is a very serious type of thing.

"It is a very, very really intense type of migraine pain throbbing down the side of your head and there is no real cure for it, other than the virus subsiding itself.

"I have been speaking to Christy on and off all the time and he was going through a very tough time with it.

"On a personal level, I am just delighted now that he is getting to get a bit of normality back in his life and we will be watching him very closely." Tweet

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