Although highly pleased by the success and the organisation of the M Donnelly interprovincial football final, and optimistic about the growing strength of the North American Board of the GAA, president Nickey Brennan stressed that the issue of summer sanctions would have to be resolved on both sides of the Atlantic.

A motion mooted by Donegal at congress decreed that sanctions for players seeking to play with North American organisations must be lodged by June 1st, which would severely limit the summer traffic of footballers heading Stateside.

"With emigration no longer a factor, players are being brought over by some of the American clubs, and of course there is always the danger the club back home will be left high and dry," said Brennan. "It is a situation which the North American Board will have to bring to a resolution.

"I would certainly feel clubs which are not operating an underage policy here have no business bringing players over and shouldn't really be given sanctions.

"If a club cannot survive with local players, the temptation is to bring out players from Ireland. But working with underage local players is the only way forward. And great progress has been made. I was out at the youth finals recently here in Canton and there were 2,000 kids out there. That is the way forward."

Brennan was happy to declare the latest instalment of the interprovincial series a success, but agreed that cost and calendar were still prohibitive issues in terms of the future of the competition.

"It could be that this time of year might be the best time to persevere with it. I felt the weekend in Boston was a particular success because it obviously meant a lot to the Irish Diaspora and the players gave us a great game.

"Boston really delivered. Player interest has never been a factor with this. It is a question of trying to find a place for it that is suitable to all. But whether we will see another of these finals overseas is another matter."

In terms of the continuing quest for a permanent home for the New York branch of the GAA, Brennan confirmed the organisation would remain a tenant in Gaelic Park for the next decade, with the proposed move to Randall's Island increasingly unlikely.

Next weekend, the roadshow moves to Galway. Brennan was adamant that popular as the International Rules are, with Pearse Stadium a sell-out, the future of the series is dependent on the attitude and behaviour of the teams.

"I'm looking forward to it. And I think it is generally known that neither organisation will tolerate a repeat of what happened last year. We have gone to great lengths to make sure both teams are fully in tune with the rules and I'm sure we can have a good, hard sporting series of games."

It was confirmed the draw for next year's championship will be live on RTÉ television after the second International Rules series, at 6.30pm.