The more Brian McEniff sees of the International Rules game the more he is convinced that the "mark", if introduced to Gaelic football, would benefit the Irish game enormously.

Donegal boss McEniff is established as one of the more successful managers of Irish Rules teams, especially following his triumphs with the 2001 side.

"The mark," he contends, "would credit players for good high fielding, especially around the middle the field. High fielding was always a feature of Gaelic football but it has sadly gone out of our game. The mark, to my way of thinking, is the obvious way to redress this loss, a ready-made answer and a sure guarantee to encourage the talent of the high fielder."

McEniff would also favour 15-minute quarters instead of the current 20-minute spells in the Rules series. "The Australians could have problems with this but it would be a help for our teams. We are playing against professional athletes who are attuned to 80 minute matches and are better able to cope with the physical exertions that the Rules game demands."

Speaking on the merits of the latest team, McEniff insists that John O'Keeffe's side gave as good a performance as any Ireland team since the series began.

"I had an advantage over Johnno," he admits, "in that I had all the players available to me that I needed, players that had become proficient at the game in the 2001 series."

McEniff, who had the experience of managing Ulster and Donegal when he took over at the helm of the Irish side, added: "We had players like Darren Fay, Séamus Moynihan and Graham Geraghty. Players of this calibre were not available to Johnno and we also had Tadhg Kennelly who was playing Aussie Rules at the time in Australia."

On the question of future management teams of Ireland squads McEniff rules himself out of returning to the post. "I have had my turn. Colm (O'Rourke), a Leinster man, Johnno (Munster) and myself (Ulster) have had our turns at the job. We should be looking to high profile people like John O'Mahony and Mick O'Dwyer, people of that nature who would have lots of experience.

"You need a certain amount of continuity as well," says McEniff. "Johnno would be ideal to continue in some capacity, as coach, trainer or manager or whatever."

Any move to increase the number of Tests to three would be welcomed by McEniff. "I would be a strong advocate of the three matches. Two matches is not enough. Aggregate scores would not be an issue in a three-Test series. The winners of the first two Tests would win the series . A third Test in the event of the teams sharing the first two would decide irrespective of scores."