FOOTBALL: Cup heartache for Morrow

But Coleraine's new signing had hoped that things had turned the corner after his international clearance finally arrived at the end of last week allowing the Limavady man to complete his move to The Showgrounds.

However, it emerged before Saturday's Irish Cup victory over Nortel that Morrow may be ruled out for the remainder of the competition because he was signed after the January 31 deadline, leaving Platt to question the ruling.

In fact Times Sport understands that the IFA cleared Morrow to play and it was only when Bannsiders' Secretary Dessie Brown made further checks that it became clear that the striker was indeed ineligible, otherwise the club could have faced a registration mess.

"It seems that Sammy may be ruled out for the entire competition, but we're just not 100% certain at the minute," said a disappointed Platt after watching his side's 6-0 win over Nortel.

"It just goes to show how old archaic these rules are. Unless something happens outside of that people don't really think about changing them.

"Obviously Sammy signed after February 1, but he was a free agent. He signed before the cup game was played and really this rule seems very strange to me.

"I read today (Saturday) that there are another couple of players who couldn't play today because they were signed on February 1, but the transfer window was extended to then. So I feel the rule really needs to be looked at, but will it be looked at now or at the end of the season?

"We will certainly ask the IFA to look at it, but then again other clubs may question why the rules should be changed for us. It's just a very frustrating situation for us and the player as he's available for the CIS Cup but seemingly not for the Irish Cup."

Morrow will be available to make his debut in tonight's (Tuesday) crucial Carling Irish Premiership clash with Linfield at Windsor Park.