Cork at Croke Park. Ahead of the match, Cork were favourites to win the title itself (even though this was only the semi-final). Tyrone's Mickey Harte, attempting to analyse the game for the BBC, expressed his shock: "To be honest, I could not see that coming. Donegal annihilated Cork, there is no other word for it". Martin McHugh, a member of the successful 1992 side, said it was the best ever performance by any Donegal team, including his own. McGuinness's Donegal team defeated Mayo in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. McGuinness duetted with Daniel O'Donnell on "Destination Donegal" at the homecoming. He was later awarded Donegal Person of the Year. Third year Donegal's defence of their All-Ireland title began against Tyrone on 26 May 2013. The match was billed in advance as the toughest contest Donegal would face in Ulster, with the winner thought likely to become Ulster champions. Donegal brushed aside Tyrone with relative ease. McGuinness said afterwards: "In the last two years the exact same thing was said. The only difference this year was that we were relegated [from the league]. There was a lot of talk about putting all the eggs into one basket, but it was the same last year and the same the year before. That's what we do — it's championship football. It will be no different next year. It was a media spin that got the whole debate going. Next year we will put all our eggs in that basket again". Donegal lost their Ulster title to Monaghan in the Ulster Final on a scoreline of 0–13 points to 0–7 in favour of the Farney men. Plagued by injuries, they limped past Laois in the qualifiers to face Mayo in the All Ireland Quarter Final, a rematch of the previous year's All Ireland Final. Mayo were sixteen-point winners on a scoreline of 4–17 to 1–10. In a post-match interview, McGuinness cited the second half of Mayo as one of the toughest watches of his managerial career. In September 2013, McGuinness confirmed he would be staying on for the 2014 season but that Rory Gallagher, Maxi Curran and Francie Friel had stepped down from his backroom team. On 25 September 2013, Damian Diver, John Duffy and Paul McGonigle were named as the new members of his backroom team. Fourth year In his fourth season in charge of the Donegal senior football team,