Donegal manager Jim McGuinness put the brief ruckus over their fielding of an ineligible player down to "an administrative error" and said the pain of watching the county's struggles in 2023 had been a key driver in his return to the role.
McGuinness's side progressed to the McKenna Cup final with a very lop-sided win over Monaghan in Castleblayney this afternoon.
The mastermind behind the 2012 All-Ireland victory was back on the sideline after winning his appeal against an eight-week ban over the fielding of Finbarr Roarty in their heavy win over Armagh in the group phase, which led to the result being chalked off.
Roarty, a Noamh Conaill clubmate of McGuinness, turned 18 the day after the Armagh match, but was deemed to be underage because he had not turned 18 the year prior.
Clarifying the situation after the Monaghan win this afternoon, McGuinness said that management believed that Roarty was eligible.
"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," McGuinness told RTÉ's Adrian Eames on Radio 1's Sunday Sport.
"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, as they say."
McGuinness's return to Donegal has been floated on several occasions over the past decade.
The Glenties man's extraordinary four year stint in charge between 2011 and 2014 - where he brought the county from under-achieving mediocrity to All-Ireland glory in two seasons - had bestowed on him a messianic air both inside Donegal and beyond.
This only heightened the further Donegal drifted from the summit, with the provincial titles drying up in the 2020s.
However, it was the pain of witnessing the county's annus horribilis in 2023 that convinced McGuinness he had to return.
"Probably on the back of last season, to be honest with you," McGuinness says, when asked why he chose to come back. "It was very tough watching it.
"And I was in the county. And was going to be in the county for the next number of years. From a work point of view, that [work situation] allowed me to coach the team.
"When the players started knocking on the door and the conversations started, it was very difficult not to come back.
"I'm delighted to be here today and to be looking forward to the next couple of weeks. It's always more energising when the games are coming at you thick and fast.
"We have to embrace that and continue to look for players, that's very important to us. We've eight U20s in the squad and they've been a breath of fresh air for the group.
"I couldn't be any happier with the lads in terms of their application. They've worked very hard, they're getting their head down. They're listening and taking it on board.
"It's a different scenario when it's your first year. And you're trying to understand the players and their capabilities and their weaknesses and put a gameplan together and build a backroom team.
"I found that absolutely manic the first time around. Not finding it as bad this time around because of the experience last time. But still, there's a lot going on.
"We've just been trying to target certain areas. And work on them on a given day and try to piece it together over the course of the pre-season. And put ourselves in a spot where we can put together a gameplan that they can believe in."
After the pre-season finishes, Donegal will begin life in Division 2 at home to Cork in a fortnight's time.
They were likewise in the second tier at the beginning of McGuinness' first stint back in 2011, a campaign which ultimately brought league promotion, a first Ulster title in 19 years, an All-Ireland semi-final appearance, and an ocean of wrath upon the manager's head as he instituted a revolutionary defensive system which left the purists aghast and has wound up changing the game profoundly.
While it would be difficult to make quite the same seismic impact this time around, what are McGuinness' goals for his first year back?
In light of Donegal's struggles in recent years, what does success look like for the manager?
"My philosophy is very simple - honest and purity," McGuinness replies.
"You can't control all those dynamics outside of that. You can't control the referee or the opposition or somebody coming out and shooting the lights out on a given day.
"But for us, if the people of Donegal see a team and there's an honesty and a purity to what they're trying to do and that we're working really hard.
"We know we're not going to be perfect. It's impossible. But those things [honesty and purity] need to be there. Those things really need to be there in order for people to look across a dressing room and know that no matter what club he's coming from in Donegal, he's giving the same as I am and everybody's working for the common goal.
"That's why I came back. To put Donegal in a better place. And the common goal has to be Donegal."
