He played from the start in four finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (including one replay), but was never successful in winning the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
He started the 1996 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final. It ended in a draw and a replay followed. Meath defeated Mayo, avenging their defeat to the same opposition in the 1951 decider. McHale was sent off, along with Meath's Colm Coyle.[4] He had been man of the match in the drawn game.[5] However, he did win an All Star award later that year.[6]
In 2013, McHale was involved in coaching the successful St Brigid's GAA team which won the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship, under manager Kevin McStay.[8]
In December 2019, Westmeath GAA club Athlone confirmed that McHale would be its new senior manager.[8]
After Kevin McStay was appointed as manager of the Mayo senior team in 2022, McStay named him as a coach and selector.[10] He departed the setup after a year.[11]
On the 7th of November 2023 he was hired as the new manager of the Mayo ladies football team on a three-year contract.[12]
^Keys, Colm (8 August 2009). "Thirteen years after infamous Mayo-Meath melee the shockwaves have not yet settled". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 August 2009. He never protested his innocence... At the time McHale, then 32, was Mayo's most influential player. He had been man-of-the-match in the drawn game and very much behind the county's resurgence under John Maughan.... 'all hell broke loose', according to McHale... 'I was right in the middle right from the start'... A year later, Maughan was manager again when Mayo lost to Kerry, while McHale was a selector when they lost the 2004 All-Ireland heavily to the Kingdom.
^"Kevin McStay: Everybody should strap in and come for the spin". RTÉ. 14 September 2022. Rochford is assistant manager along with coaching contributions, Buckley will be head coach and selector, while Mulligan and McHale are also coaches and selectors with additional responsibilities for club liaison and Mayo Under-20s liaison respectively.