Jim McGuinness Retained as Donegal Senior Football Manager for 2027

Jim McGuinness will stay on as Donegal senior football manager for the 2027 season, extending one of the most compelling modern stories in Ulster football.

The county confirmed on Monday evening that McGuinness has been retained for a further year, which will be his fourth season in his second spell in charge. His initial agreement was a three-year deal with an option for a fourth, and that option has now been activated.

Donegal GAA announced the decision on social media after a County Committee meeting, stating that Jim McGuinness has been appointed senior football manager for a one-year term, while Mickey McCann has been handed a two-year term as senior hurling manager.

McCann’s extension continues a tenure that began in 2018 and has brought stability and steady progress to Donegal hurling. His new deal keeps him at the helm until at least 2027.

McGuinness, meanwhile, remains the central figure in Donegal’s football ambitions. Since returning to the job, he has driven the county to back-to-back Ulster titles in 2024 and 2025 and took them to an All-Ireland final in 2025, rekindling memories of his transformative first spell when he led Donegal to All-Ireland glory in 2012.

This year underlined the contradictions of his second coming. In March, Donegal claimed the Football League Division One title with a final win over Kerry, a statement result that suggested they were ready to challenge at the very top again.

Championship football told a different story.

Donegal fell to Down in the quarter-finals of the Ulster SFC, a defeat that jarred against their league form. In the All-Ireland series, they pushed Dublin to extra-time in Round 3 but still went out, leaving a sense of unfinished business hanging over the season.

Now McGuinness gets at least one more year to chase the standard he himself set.