Jim McGuinness (born 16 November 1972) is a Gaelic football coach, and former player, who won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as a player with, and later manager of, the Donegal county team. Since 2023, he has been manager, for the second time, of Donegal's senior team.
Having guided Donegal to 2010 All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship final, McGuinness was appointed manager of the senior county team later that year. In his time at the helm, he oversaw a Donegal team that won three Ulster Senior Football Championship titles in four seasons and led his team to the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title. The 2012 final was the county's first appearance on football's ultimate stage since 1992, and only its second All-Ireland SFC title in more than 120 years of attempts. In addition, McGuinness's Donegal was the only team to defeat Dublin in a championship match during Jim Gavin's time as manager, doing so in the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final, and McGuinness's condensing of the pitch influenced how Dublin subsequently improved over the next five years. McGuinness ended his first spell as Donegal manager shortly after that defeat of Dublin.
McGuinness then became one of very few county team managers to have taken a role at a professional sports team outside Ireland. He began working with the Scottish association football club Celtic as a coach in 2012, progressing to the position of assistant manager its under-20 squad. In 2017, he took up a coaching role with Chinese Super League association football club Beijing Sinobo Guoan, until January 2018. In December 2018, he was named as head coach of USL Championship association football club Charlotte Independence. Over the course of his involvement in association football coaching, McGuinness has worked with figures such as the German Roger Schmidt (formerly Bayer Leverkusen manager) and the Spaniard Félix Sarriugarte (formerly Athletic Bilbao manager).
McGuinness's unexpected return as Donegal senior manager was announced in August 2023. Having previously achieved his UEFA Pro Licence, he was the first person to be appointed as an inter-county Gaelic games manager while holding such a qualification.
Early life McGuinness spent his childhood at Ard Patrick in Glenties. His brother Charles died suddenly during the night from an unknown heart problem when he was 16. McGuinness later spoke about that event: "It was a moment in your life, Ryan [Tubridy, host of The Late Late Show], where you're going along and your life is going along in a certain direction and then, just all of a sudden, you're jilted and you're going in a different direction. In many respects it was like a sledgehammer. I have to say that. I was 12, heading for 13, and you're never the same person again. And that's being honest. All of a sudden your life just changes. You're weak and you're vulnerable. There's this sense of freefall and trying to make sense of it. All I wanted to do was make things right for my mother and father, to get it back to what it was". A friend of Charles suggested that he would have been "a cert for the county minors". McGuinness took the remark to heart and it proved an important motivation for his later life: "I remember them words and I remember staring at the television, and in that moment saying to myself: 'I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that'. And in that moment my focus became very, very concentrated and I became very aware of the fact that I didn't want anybody else in the room to realise what I was thinking. From that moment on, that's how I started living my life. When I would get in from school at twenty to four — we're just a couple of hundred metres from the school — at quarter to four I'd be running down the road or on the bike and I'd be in the pitch, particularly in the wintertime because you'd only have maybe 45 minutes of light. It just became a big, big part of my life".
Charles's namesake, a nephew of Jim, would later play for Donegal as well.
Jim McGuinness's boyhood hero was Jack O'Shea. He once wrote a letter to him asking for his jersey.
Playing career McGuinness was called up to the county minors in 1990. In early 1992, he sufficiently impressed senior county manager Brian McEniff in a trial game in Ballyshannon to earn a call-up to the squad. He first spotted McGuinness playing in the 1990 Donegal IFC final. McEniff, according to himself and speaking on Up for the Match in 2025, was actually playing that day, as the final was against his own club Réalt na Mara.McEniff, Brian. Up for the Match. RTÉ. 26 July 2025. He called McGuinness onto the Donegal panel. McGuinness told McEniff he was going to America. McEniff said he was not, he was going to stay and play for Donegal.
As a "scraggly-haired teen", McGuinness observed from the bench as McEniff's team defeated Derry in the final of the Ulster Senior Football Championship, before going on to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
McEniff played McGuinness against Antrim in the 1993 Ulster SFC ("blooded" him, as McEniff said on Up for the Match in 2025). However, by McEniff's account, McGuinness picked up an injury in that game and struggled to recover. McEniff left in 1994. Then, according to McEniff, McGuinness faded away for a while after that, but returned to take a place in later Donegal teams.McEniff, Brian. Up for the Match. RTÉ. 26 July 2025.
McGuinness was also a star of Third-Level Colleges football, winning Sigerson Cups with Tralee in 1998 and 1999 as captain, and again as captain in 2001 with the University of Ulster at Jordanstown (UUJ). At Tralee he studied health and leisure. He played club football with Naomh Conaill, winning a Donegal Senior Football Championship in 2005. With Ireland, he played in the 1998 International Rules Series.
He also played for Donegal Boston.
After Donegal lost the final of the 1998 Ulster Senior Football Championship, Jim McGuinness — aged 25 at this time — decided to go to New York for the summer. As he and his brother Mark drove towards the airport, a lorry struck their car and killed driver Mark — aged 27. McGuinness later said: "Just as the lorry was passing us it came straight across the road and took us out of it. And that was it. We were flung, really, like a matchbox up the road and spun so many times, and the car came to a shudder and a stop. Very quickly you realised that we were in a very, very difficult situation. I just told him repeatedly that I loved him. That's what I told him. It was probably 10 years before I realised or accepted that it happened".
McGuinness scored a goal against Armagh ten minutes from the end of the 2002 Ulster Senior Football Championship final. He started the first game of Brian McEniff's last spell as Donegal manager, a league defeat to Galway in Tuam in February 2003, during which he scored a point. He made a substitute appearance for Paul McGonigle in the 2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final against Armagh. He played with Donegal until 2003. Upon retiring he became a fitness coach and lectured as a sports psychologist in the North West Regional College, Limavady.
Management career in Gaelic football At the age of 18 McGuinness was coaching underage teams. Columba McDyer, at the time the only Donegal man with an All-Ireland SFC medal, approached him one night. He said: "I think you are going to be a coach. I want you to have this whistle", and presented him with a blue and white whistle. As of 2012, McGuinness was still using that whistle.
Naomh Conaill The story goes that one day McGuinness tore his cruciate ligaments, broke a leg and smashed a kneecap in a game against Killybegs, leading to months spent languishing at home in self-pity and lethargy. Naomh Conaill manager Hughie Molloy asked him to coach the senior team—McGuinness accepted and in 2005 Naomh Conaill reached their first county final in 40 years. 6/1 outsiders ahead of the match, Naomh Conaill defeated a heavily fancied St Eunan's after a replay to take their first ever Donegal Senior Football Championship. The style used was reminiscent of what would later become The System.
In 2009, Naomh Conaill met St Eunan's in the County Championship Final again. McGuinness, now aged 36, was joint-manager (with Cathal Corey) of Naomh Conaill. Naomh Conaill lost that one, but won the County Championship Final again the following year. McGuinness was joint-manager with Corey again in 2010.
Donegal McGuinness was turned down several times by the Donegal County Board, on one occasion being thwarted by the lack of a plug socket for the projector needed for his PowerPoint display. "I was the only candidate [on the last occasion] and I struggled to get it", he said the week before Donegal took on Mayo in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final. He had offers from other counties but held out, determined to become senior boss even when those at the top did their utmost to deprive him of the opportunity.Craig, Frank. "Jim could have walked away — McGuinness: 'I had offers'". Letterkenny Post, 20 September 2012, pp. 44–45.
McGuinness was interviewed for the role of Donegal senior manager in 2007 following Brian McIver's resignation, though McIver was reappointed after reapplying when he decided to carry on. One year later when the role became available again, McGuinness was still the youngest candidate.
Under-21s
The last time he was rejected as senior manager McGuinness was given the under-21 team to manage as a consolation. Brian McEniff, who had remained close to McGuinness since McGuinness was 19 years of age, recommended him after the County Chairman asked him to appoint the next under-21 manager.
McGuinness guided his county to the 2010 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship final, in which they were narrowly defeated by Dublin.
Seniors Appointment In July 2010, McGuinness, having led Donegal to the 2010 All-Ireland U-21 Football Championship final, was appointed as manager of the senior team when his colleague John Joe Doherty resigned in the wake of a disastrous season. His first meeting with the downcast and "demoralised" senior panel occurred at Downings Bay Hotel on 6 November 2010. He outlined his intentions: to be in the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final after four years of hard labour akin to an Olympiad. McGuinness drafted Kevin Cassidy into his first McKenna Cup panel, despite Cassidy announcing his intention to retire the previous season's disappointing campaign.
First year
McGuinness's first year as manager proved successful, as Donegal gained promotion to Division 1 after defeating Laois by a scoreline of 2–11 to 0–16. Donegal's 2011 All-Ireland SFC campaign began on 15 May 2011, against Antrim. Both sides performed poorly; however, Donegal ultimately triumphed, earning a first win in an Ulster SFC game for four years. On his first start in the Ulster SFC, Ryan Bradley scored two points, and The Sunday Game gave him their man-of-the-match award. However, TV pundit Pat Spillane also claimed Bradley was "the best of a bad bunch" and didn't deserve the award at all, causing McGuinness to react furiously. McGuinness called Spillane's comments "way over the top".
On 17 July 2011, Donegal won their first Ulster title since 1992 when they defeated Derry by a scoreline of 1–11 to 0–8. On 30 July 2011, Donegal faced Kildare in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final. The sides finished level at full-time, forcing the game into extra-time. Donegal edged out Kildare by a scoreline of 1–12 to 0–14, with late points scored by captain Michael Murphy and two veterans, Christy Toye and Kevin Cassidy. Donegal were then narrowly defeated by Dublin in the semi-final on 28 August 2011; Dublin went on to become All-Ireland champions by defeating Kerry in the final.