[1] She has twice won the world championship in the double scull alongside Olivia Loe, is the incumbent world champion, and won a silver medal in this class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with rowing partner Hannah Osborne, followed by a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics with Lucy Spoors.

[3] She went to her first New Zealand Rowing Championships in February 2012, held at Lake Karapiro, where she came eighths in the senior women's single scull.

[9] In March 2016, Donoghue was announced as a member of the New Zealand Rowing Team, with a seat in the women's quad (alongside Georgia Perry, Lucy Spoors, and Sarah Gray) that had yet to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

[10] She competed at the Final Qualification regatta at the Rotsee near Lucerne, Switzerland, in May 2016 where they failed to qualify in third place as only two boats advanced to the Olympics.

[3] At the February 2017 New Zealand rowing championships, she competed in three premier women boat classes and she won two national titles.

[15] At the February 2018 New Zealand rowing championships, she competed in three premier women boat classes and she won two national titles.

[16] Again teamed up with Loe for international competitions, they competed at World Rowing Cups in Poland and the Netherlands, and they won gold in both races.

[17] Once again teamed up with Loe for international competitions, they won the 2019 World Rowing Cup II in Poznań, Poland.

[20] When New Zealand Rowing announced the female elite team later that month, Donoghue and Loe were nominated for the double scull.

[22][23] Stuff's rowing commentator Ian Anderson considers the women's double scull "to be among NZ's leading medal contenders in Tokyo".