Jim McGuinness was on the sideline for Donegal on Sunday and watched his team run out comfortable winners against Monaghan.
It was a lively week for Donegal GAA as McGuinness was hit with an eight-week suspension on Monday for the fielding of an underage player (Finnbarr Roarty) against Armagh in the McKenna Cup. McGuinness was deemed to be the ‘person(s) in charge of the team’.
However on Thursday night, the Ulster Hearings Committee cleared McGuinness and Donegal GAA were told that the ‘alleged infraction was not proven, and that no further disciplinary action is to be taken’.
McGuinness addressed the matter after Sunday’s match.
“We had a good case.
“There was an administrative error and the rulebook was not clear either in terms of who is the ‘person in charge of the team?’ and where does the role of the coach end and the administrator begin?
“I think that rule, when it was brought initially, was to deal with juvenile football. It was brought in for situations where people were managing young fellows and then chairpersons and secretaries were getting major sanctions, and they didn’t know anything about the player.
“But this is senior football and we have senior executives who deal with the going-ons off the pitch. There’s probably something there in terms of the rulebook.”
It was put to McGuinness that he should have known that his Naomh Conaill clubmate Roarty was not eligible to play as he had not turned 18 before the end of 2023. McGuinness said the following:
“We take it on the chin in terms as we should’ve known but it was a genuine administrative error. I came out after that game and spoke to all these people to my right (media) about how well he done and if there was any malice involved that would be the last thing we would be doing.
“Last time around we had Patrick McBrearty as a 17-year-old, and Marty O’Reilly, Ryan McHugh and Odhran MacNiallais – we always took the best minor.
“We actually had a game against Roscommon before Christmas and we believed that he wasn’t able to play in that game.
“We believed that he was eligible in January so that’s how it unfolded. It was a genuine administrative error that probably should have been picked up.”
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