He attended Notre Dame, and played his first major league game on August 3, 1909 with the Philadelphia Phillies.
He started his baseball career joining the Jersey City Skeeters of the Eastern League in 1909 at the age of 23.
The next year McDonough played with the Scranton Miners of the New York State League.
The following year in 1912, McDonough signed with the Chicago Green Sox of the "outlaw" United States Baseball League.
McDonough was done with the Southern Association, and in 1913 he went back the New York State League where he had previously been with the Scranton Miners.