He won seven Donegal Senior Football Championship titles with that combination of clubs and another one with Réalt na Mara, when St Joseph's divided.
He won two Ulster Senior Football Championship titles with the Donegal county team as player-manager in 1972 and 1974 and was awarded an All Star after the first of these.
He returned once more in 1989, leading the county to its fourth and fifth Ulster SFC titles in 1990 and 1992, as well as the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in the last of these.
McEniff managed his county during four successive decades, earning a reputation as the dean of Donegal football.
He coached Ireland to victory over Australia in the 2001 International Rules Series, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Football Park in Adelaide in October that year.
[2] From the age of 17, McEniff spent three years studying hotel management at Cathal Burgha Street College in Dublin.
[8] McEniff supported Tyrone against Louth in the 1957 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final, his first visit to Croke Park.
[1][9] McEniff won numerous titles with the famous St Joseph's combination of Bundoran and Ballyshannon, both in Donegal and Ulster.
[citation needed] He captained St Joseph's to the 1968 Ulster Senior Club Football Championship final.
[1][11] Upon being made aware that he would be taking charge of Sligo's training sessions, Barnes Murphy, the team captain, talked to McEniff.
He would have united the clubs in Donegal, who at that point would have been killing one another, even at county level players wouldn't pass.
He began to manage the Ulster provincial football team, with which he won 12 Railway Cup finals.
[clarification needed] McEniff stood down from his position as Ulster manager in 2007, 25 years after taking the job in 1982.
[18][19] He led the county to another Ulster SFC title in 1990, restoring such as Declan Bonner, Manus Boyle, Matt Gallagher, Barry McGowan and Sylvester Maguire, players that Conaghan had thrown by the wayside.
[19] McEniff's success in Gaelic games culminated when he led his native Donegal team to glory over Dublin at Croke Park in the 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final.
[20][21] It was shortly before this match that McEniff was informed that the brother of one of his players Joyce McMullin, had died from cancer.
McEniff left Donegal inter-county management in 2005 after a fifth and final tenure in charge ended with a drab qualifier defeat to Cavan at Breffni Park.
[5][11][29][30] In November that year, it was widely reported that he would become one of Fitzpatrick's selectors for the following season, with both Highland Radio and Hogan Stand claiming he would replace the departing Martin McQuillan.
[32] McEniff managed his local club in the 2013 Donegal Senior Football Championship, taking over from Joe Keeney after his resignation and filling the position in his 71st year.
[38] He is Managing Director of the McEniff Hotel Group, which has a presence in such locations as Bundoran, Drumcondra, Sligo, Rosses Point and Westport, County Mayo.
During his appearance on Up for the Match ahead of the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, McEniff was visibly stiff, awkward and in some pain.