Donnelly started to coach and assist the Vietnam national rowing team in 2010 following a chance encounter with Vietnamese rowers when he was holidaying in the country in 2009. His personal involvement with the sport in Vietnam enabled the country to qualify a women's lightweight double scull at London 2012. The pair of Phạm Thị Hài and Phạm Thị Thảo were the first Vietnamese crew to ever qualify for the Olympic games. During the following Olympiad Donnelly assisted in the development of a national training program, enabling a Vietnamese women's lightweight double scull rowed by Tạ Thanh Huyền and Hồ Thị Lý to qualify and compete at Rio 2016. Their 2016 qualification was achieved on the back of the eight gold medals won by Vietnamese crews at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games.