McGuinness led his team to the 2014 Ulster Senior Football Championship, then past Armagh in the All-Ireland quarter-final, past Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final and onwards to Kerry in the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, succeeding in his original aim, set back in 2010. The semi-final victory over Dublin was particularly celebrated. Dublin had been expected to "massacre" Donegal; bookmakers were stunned by the outcome. Martin McHugh said afterwards that McGuinness was "the best manager Donegal have ever had, and one of the best in any county in the modern era", while Ireland manager Paul Earley hailed the victory as McGuinness's greatest coaching achievement. Donegal were beaten in the final by Kerry,losing 2:08 to 0:11. On 4 October 2014, McGuinness terminated his tenure as Donegal manager. He had managed Donegal through 54 league and championship matches. He gave his first interview since this on The Saturday Night Show soon afterwards. Book McGuinness's autobiography Until Victory Always: A Memoir was released in October 2015, and he gave a televised interview to The Late Late Show. Other sports After McGuinness led Donegal to the All-Ireland SFC title, the father of Paul McGinley (an acquaintance of McGuinness) asked him to tell the Irish golfer about coaching so that he could captain Team Europe in the Ryder Cup. With no history of playing professional association football (and therefore ineligible for entry at the UEFA B Licence level), McGuinness began his involvement in coaching the sport by participating in a Kick Start (coaching) course before advancing up the scale over a decade to a decade and half. In May 2015, McGuinness said he would begin his UEFA B Licence coaching badge. He had received it by January 2017. He began his UEFA A Licence in July 2017. He later received it. McGuinness successfully applied to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to study for a UEFA Pro Licence in 2019, his classmates including Damien Duff and Robbie Keane. As of 2020, he still had not obtained the licence as two blocks coincided with games in which he was manager but expressed his intention to complete it later in the year (subject to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions). Limavady McGuinness did work with an association football team in Limavady. This was in 2005, at North West Regional College, where he was a lecturer for several years (teaching sports psychology). Derry City When Stephen Kenny left Derry