Jim McGuinness is back as Donegal manager for a second term, having landed the county’s second All-Ireland in 2012 in his first appointment.
On Monday night the anticipated confirmation came from a county board meeting brought forward from September. After the one-item agenda was taken the following announcement was made.
“Donegal GAA is delighted to announce the appointment of Jim McGuinness as senior football team manager, following a meeting of Donegal County Committee,” concluding that the term will be for three years with an option for the fourth year.”
His backroom team will include Colm McFadden, his brother-in-law, Neil McGee and Luke Barrett.
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McFadden had been involved as a coach with Tony McEntee in Sligo and although recently reappointed, he will return to his own county with whom he won an All-Ireland medal and an All Star as part of McGuinness’s team in 2012.
McGee, one of the best full backs in the country during his career, was also on the 2012 team. Barrett has managed the Donegal minors in recent years.
McGuinness was previously manager of the county between 2010 and 2014. The high point of the tenure was the 2012 All-Ireland victory, only the second in the county’s history, but he also led the team to the final two years later when they were narrowly defeated by Kerry.
At the conclusion of that championship came the news that McGuinness would be taking up a full-time coaching position with Glasgow Celtic where he had been working with younger players since 2012.
This began a period in which he pursued a career in soccer, which took him to Chinese team Beijing Sinobo Guoan, as an assistant to German coach and former Bayern Leverkusen manager Roger Schmidt.
There followed a stint in the US as coach of Charlotte Independence. He also has a Uefa Pro Licence. Back in Ireland he has had a successful relationship with the Derry City under-19s and was linked sporadically with vacancies in various League of Ireland clubs.
Intercounty football appeared off the agenda for a long time but McGuinness maintained a close association with the game as a pundit with The Irish Times and Sky Sports. He was linked to intercounty positions as well but has restricted himself to occasional inputs rather than full-time involvement.
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He has acknowledged that last year he had been ready to take the plunge with Donegal in a backup role with Rory Kavanagh and Karl Lacey. Speaking to the Irish Examiner podcast in March, he explained that the offer came to nothing after the withdrawal of that management ticket from the process.
“I said I was available to do something with the team or help with the team. Rory and Karl were considering that situation, I was going to go along with them.
“Rory and Karl, for want of a better word, are your babies. They are guys you coached. I wanted to see them go on the right foot and help them. I said that to the county board. Then when the Rory thing didn’t work out, they never came back to me. We never had another conversation.”
The past 12 months has been one of turmoil for Donegal. Declan Bonner stepped down in June 2022 after Donegal’s defeat by Armagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers. His successor wasn’t appointed until October when Paddy Carr was announced as the new manager.
An opening-weekend win over All-Ireland champions Kerry got the league off to a good start but by March under pressure from the players, Carr stepped down and coach Aidan O’Rourke took over.
Earlier in the year, further controversy struck when Lacey resigned from the county academy, which he had been administering to general acclaim on a voluntary, expenses-only basis. Other coaches in the development system also resigned in protest and the crisis prompted a Croke Park review of the matter.
Although the championship ended in relative respectability with defeat by Tyrone in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final, O’Rourke walked away, leaving a vacancy.
McGuinness is believed to have consulted widely on the matter in the wake of the championship departure and spoke to the headhunting team appointed to find a new manager, which featured 1992 All-Ireland captain Anthony Molloy and team-mate Martin McHugh.
The appointment will be welcome in the county, as it offers a pathway out of the chaos of the past season. With his high standing in the county after the 2012 success, he will have the respect of the dressingroom even though only Patrick McBrearty of the All-Ireland winning team survives and Ryan McHugh from 2014.
He will be taking over a side that won back-to-back Ulster titles just four years ago and with a number of players set to return from injury and other absences, such as Peadar Mogan, McHugh, Niall O’Donnell and Shane O’Donnell as well as Michael Langan.
