The GAA are sent to appoint a new International Rules manager when the series against Australia resumes in 2010.
Seán Boylan, who took charge of Ireland during the series of 2006 and ’08, will not therefore have a record third series when the internationals resume next autumn.
The four-times All-Ireland winning Meath manager would have remained in the position had this year’s series, scheduled for October, gone ahead but the AFL requested a postponement of the tests for financial reasons and the GAA reluctantly agreed, even though the matches were to have been the final curtain on the association’s 125th anniversary.
Asked when a decision was to be taken on the management for next year’s tests, GAA operations manager Feargal McGill confirmed a new appointment would be made.
Speaking to the Irish Times, McGill said: 'That decision has been taken. Seán has effectively been there since 2006 and we were going to re-appoint him for this year to keep the momentum going because he had done such an excellent job and then start afresh.
'That momentum was lost by the tour not going ahead and given that we felt that there would be a fair turnover of players it made sense to start a new management cycle.
'It's a nomination traditionally made by the president and we would expect an announcement to be made around the time of next April’s congress.'
There was a great deal of disappointment in Croke Park that the series didn’t take place this year. Not alone did it leave a gap in the association’s calendar at the end of this year but it also represented a significant financial loss.
Under the terms of a new agreement between the GAA and AFL, the home association was due to keep the receipts from the series.
As the crowds and revenue are greater in Ireland than in Australia, the new arrangement would have moved the internationals from breaking even or slightly better to what McGill described as a 'definite financial positive.'
Concerns that the international project might be losing appeal for the Australian side have been allayed and Croke Park expects the series to resume without further disruption on its new twice-every-three-years cycle from the autumn of 2010.
