BY RYAN FERRY

JIM McGuinness stated that he was ‘very happy’ as his second tenure got off to a good start against Roscommon in a challenge match in Ballyshannon on Sunday.

It wasn’t a competitive fixture and teams aren’t always on the same level in terms of preparation at this time of the year.

But it was still a good work-out for Donegal as they won by 2-12 to 2-6.

Kevin McGettigan (Naomh Conaill), Ciaran Moore (St Eunan’s), and Oisin Caulfield (Na Rossa) were in the starting line-up as they made their first appearances in a senior Donegal jersey.

They were joined by Ronan Frain (Letterkenny Gaels), Seanan Carr (Four Masters), and Sean Martin (Sean MacCumhaill’s) in the second half.

The likes of Shane O’Donnell and Aaron Doherty were back involved after not playing last season, and all in all, it was a decent afternoon’s work for McGuinness and his charges.

“Good – we’re very happy with it to be honest,” said McGuinness to the media and a scrum of eavesdropping supporters afterwards.

“Obviously the first day out there are going to be some cobwebs in there but in terms of their application and their workrate and their handling and everything, we would have to be happy.

“Obviously the penalty kind of changed the scoreline a wee bit towards the end but then we managed to claw another goal back.

“No it was very good – really happy and positive – and a good wee building block.

“It’s lovely to be here in Aodh Ruadh to open the new pitch for them and we have a couple of games coming up now over the next month or so.”

Sunday was the first time that McGuinness has spoken to the extended press pack in Donegal and he was asked what persuaded him to return to the hotseat for a second time.

“It’s well documented if you like but if things were going well and if it was even a decent season last year, I probably wouldn’t be back and that’s the truth.

“A number of the boys got onto me and kept getting onto me. They were fairly persistent, so yeah I’m here now and hopefully we can push on now and get a positive season.”