Jim McGuinness: Donegal boss says new rules will help ‘refreshed’ Michael Murphy

Murphy was bothered by a hamstring injury following his return to the Donegal squad but looks likely to be in contention for the early rounds of the Division One campaign which starts with their 26 January opener against Kerry in Killarney.

Asked whether he might consider resting the Glenswilly man during stages of the league with a view to keeping him fresh for the championship which begins with the Ulster preliminary round meeting with Derry on 5-6 April, McGuinness replied: “We look very, very closely to where the players are at.

“We look at what they’ve done, we know what we want to do with them, we know where we want to get them to and how we want to build them.

“Every single one of them will be on a different trajectory from that point of view. We’re hoping they all land in the same place eventually.”

Murphy is not the only addition to last year’s panel with Eoin McHugh and Odhran McFadden-Ferry returning to the squad and 19-year-old Finbarr Roarty also included after his brief involvement in the early part of last year.

The Naomh Conaill player made his Donegal debut early last January in the Dr McKenna Cup against Armagh but when it was learned that the county had contravened GAA rules by playing the then 17-year-old at senior inter-county level, McGuinness was handed a proposed eight-week ban which was later rescinded after a successful appeal.