This equalled the record for the highest individual scorer in any championship football match set by Dublin's Johnny Joyce in 1960; Gallagher and Joyce held the joint record for eighteen years until Cillian O'Connor's four goals (accompanied by nine points) in the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final at Croke Park broke it.
Jim McGuinness had originally recruited Peter McGinley but he had work commitments and spoke of Gallagher as an impressive coach.
[14] He was then linked with the vacant Fermanagh and Antrim jobs but settled instead for Donegal Under-21s assistant manager under Maxi Curran.
"[17] After Gallagher left the Donegal panel in 2013, he became joint manager of Cill Chartha with John McNulty.
Gallagher made his competitive managerial debut for Donegal in the National Football League Division 1 win against Derry with a score of 1-15 0–12.
In the final round Donegal drew with Mayo 0-12 1-09 but made it through to the semi-final on points difference but lost to Cork in a scoreline of 4-11 0–19.
Gallagher's championship debut soon followed, with Donegal meeting Tyrone in the preliminary round with the winner facing Armagh.
However, it was not the case this time as Gallagher's men eased their way to victory with a 0-08 2–11 win, allowing Donegal to progress to the semi-final to meet Derry, whom they beat 0-10 1–09 in Clones to make Gallagher's first Ulster SFC final as manager and Donegal's fifth successive final, which resulted in a narrow defeat to Monaghan by a score line of 0-11 0–10.
As a result of Donegal losing in the Ulster SFC final, Gallagher's men met Galway on 1 August 2015 at Croke Park in the last round of the All-Ireland Qualifiers.
Two injury time points in the Ulster SFC final handed Tyrone their first provincial title since 2010.
Dublin avenged their famous defeat in the 2014 semi-final (achieved by McGuinness after Gallagher's departure from his backroom team).
Eight points down by the 31st minute of the first half, Fermanagh had to deploy a hastily cobbled together Plan B, but to little effect, though they made it to half-time with just the eight-point difference.
[25] Under Gallagher, Derry won the 2022 Ulster Senior Football Championship against his former team Donegal in extra time 1:14 to 1:16.
[34][35][36] However, after Gaelic Athletic Association president Jarlath Burns sent an email to Naas GAA expressing concern about Gallagher's appointment, the offer was withdrawn.