Boylan in line for Ireland job

Former Meath managerial great Sean Boylan looks set to lead Ireland into battle against Australia in the 2006 International Rules Series.

The Dunboyne herbalist is the hot favourite to be announced as the new Irish manager, succeeding Down's Pete McGrath, at a press briefing at Croke Park on Thursday. Former Galway All-Ireland winning boss John O'Mahony ruled himself out of the running at the start of the month.

The 2006 Series' Test matches will take place at Pearse Stadium, Salthill, on either October 28 or 29, and at Croke Park on November 4 or 5.

Newly-appointed GAA President Nickey Brennan, along with the Association's Director General Dermot Power and Commercial Manager Dermot Power are in Dubai today to meet AFL (Australian Football League) chiefs and discuss the future of the Rules Series, along with a number of the hybrid game's rulings.

The Series looks certain to become a biennial event after 2006 with Pat Daly, the GAA's Head of Games, citing "the volume of internal fixtures" and "the distance between the two countries" as being two of the determining factors.

Other possible alterations to the hybrid game include playing shorter quarters and reducing the size of the interchange (substitutions) bench from eight players to six.

The GAA will also be seeking an alteration to the current yellow card rule.

In previous Series, players who have been yellow carded are "sin binned" for 15 minutes and teams are permitted to replace that player with another for the 15 minutes, after which the carded player may return to the fray.

The GAA wants the carded player "binned" for the remainder of the game.