League of Ireland:Shamrock Rovers hope to be playing at their new home in Tallaght by the start of the 2009 season after the High Court ruled South Dublin County Council should be allowed to complete its long-awaited stadium without providing for Gaelic games.
Thomas Davis, the club behind the court action, must now decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court, and a senior club official yesterday refused to rule out such a move, though he did concede it could entail huge legal costs.
In a statement issued jointly with the Dublin County Board, the club said it was "disappointed" by the judgement and indicated it would consider its response in the coming weeks.
"We will be reviewing the detailed judgement in the case in conjunction with our legal advisors before deciding whether to appeal," they said.
The statement also underlined the desire of club and board to gain access to the stadium in Tallaght regardless of the development by the GAA, with the help of substantial public funding, of a centre of excellence at nearby Rathcoole.
Thomas Davis insist since that project does not include a stadium it does not affect their stance on Tallaght.
The judgement will nevertheless be viewed as a major step forward by supporters of Shamrock Rovers, who have seen their club's attempts to secure a new home in Tallaght repeatedly frustrated since planning permission was granted, almost 10 years ago.
In that time the club have established a significant presence in the community and, having merged with Tallaght Town, Rovers now run many schoolboy sides. But their attempts to develop a major support base in Dublin southwest as well as a stronger financial base have been seriously hampered by the fact their League of Ireland team still plays home games at a rented ground in Drumcondra.
"We're absolutely delighted," said the club's chairman, Jonathan Roche, yesterday. "It's brilliant news, an early Christmas present for everybody associated with the club."
Roche said he was hopeful Thomas Davis and the GAA would now let the matter rest.
"Obviously I can't talk for them or second guess what way they're thinking but their options now are to bring this to the Supreme Court and maybe Europe and that would involve a lot of money," he said. "Hopefully, they'll accept this decision instead and allow us to start moving forward again."
Representatives of the council are expected to meet with the Department of Sport before Christmas regarding the drawing down of the funding to recommence work, and it should then become clear how soon the contractors will be back on site.
It is estimated the remaining work on the stadium will cost almost €8 million and it is hoped it could be under way by late February or early March.
If things go to schedule from that point on, Rovers could be playing football at their new home before the end of next year, though it seems more likely that their first competitive games at the venue would be in the spring of 2009.
If allowed to stand, yesterday's decision will mark the end of a remarkable sequence of setbacks for the stadium project.
Planning and funding issues have dogged it from the outset. The court action resulted from a series of policy about-turns by the council, which having taken over the project itself decided to alter the design so as to accommodate Gaelic games.
When the Government made it clear it would not fund construction under those circumstances, the council voted in February 2005 to revert to the soccer-only plan, and it was this decision that Thomas Davis, with the backing of Dublin County Board, sought to challenge by way of a judicial review.
In his judgement yesterday, however, Mr Justice Roderick Murphy said the council was not wrong to have abandoned a plan it did not have the funding to implement.
"There's still a lot of work to be done," concluded Roche afterwards, "but the prospect of this all being resolved will certainly make the prospect of another year at Tolka Park a lot more palatable."
