In addition to his four senior national cup finals, he also refereed three League Cup Semi-Finals (in 2005 between Motherwell and Hearts, in 2006 between Dunfermline Athletic and Livingston and in 2010 between Rangers and St Johnstone) and three Scottish Cup Semi-Finals (in 2003 between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dundee, in 2008 between St Johnstone and Rangers and in 2009 between Falkirk and Dunfermline Athletic.
[10][11][12] McDonald was censured by the SFA Referee Committee for lying in his post-match report about the circumstances surrounding his decision not to award the penalty kick.
[15] In July 2014, several links to articles relating to the penalty incident at Dundee United were removed from Google's search results under the EU Court of Justice's Right to be forgotten ruling.
[16][17] Following complaints about the decision, Google restored its links to articles in The Guardian newspaper about McDonald.
[19] McDonald is a transport planner by profession, having worked at MVA Consultancy (now SYSTRA) for 25 years.