GAA: The Dublin County Board will not be investing in Shamrock Rovers' uncompleted 15,000-seater stadium in Tallaght, according to chairman John Bailey.

After last week's meeting of club members, there was a revival of the speculation that the Dublin board would financially facilitate the completion of Sloane Park with a view to sharing the complex with the League of Ireland club.

"The talk of deals is rubbish, basically," Bailey clarified yesterday.

"This thing has been dead since last November. At that time, I did make enquiries about the feasibility of investing in the facility, but there were a number of factors that discouraged me from pursuing the idea. It is not something that I would like to see the Dublin County Board involved in."

Bailey's assertions dampen the speculation that the unprecedented axis between the worlds of GAA and soccer was on the verge of being made official.

Yet, Shamrock Rovers chairman Tony Maguire, while stressing he had not been in direct communication with Mr Bailey, yesterday expressed the belief that an entente cordiale might yet be the end result.

"We did have a couple of preliminary meetings with the representatives of the Dublin board with a view to sharing the ground. We were then to consider the idea before a formal proposal was adopted.

"At last week's meeting, the plan was put before our members at a club meeting on Tuesday and it met with some vociferous opposition. That attracted some media attention which probably has done nothing to help the matter along."

Asked whether he still believed that the offer of financial rescue, with a figure of €12 million already quoted, was still realistic, Maguire said that Shamrock Rovers had received "no information to the contrary".

However, as Bailey pointed out, the Dublin board, anxious to develop a southside sister ground for the over-worked Parnell Park, has already acquired 26 acres in Rathcoole.

If a deal were struck with Rovers, it would have far reaching implications in terms of the ever-contentious Rule 42.

Just this week, a Longford club, St Mary's of Granard, was forced to cancel plans to host a Brazilian-themed soccer weekend on its pitch when it was found to be in contravention of the rule.

Both Bailey and Maguire believed that the Rule 42 could be hurdled by simply giving the shared ground a neutral name. Hence, it wouldn't be strictly a GAA ground and so would not be affected by the Rule 42 directive.

Bailey also said that during his preliminary enquiries, it was his stated intention that the Dublin board would use the venue for the majority of the season.

Sloane Park was heralded as the base for a bright new future for the famously nomadic Dublin soccer club, but construction was halted over a year of go when the club finances dried up.

In principal, seasonal usage of the venue would be a blessing for the Dublin County Board, who are anxious to develop stronger roots in the southside and Tallaght in particular, which has a burgeoning population with an extremely young age-profile.

Shamrock Rovers' official position is that the club will decide over the next six weeks whether to enter into formal negotiations with the Dublin board.

The radical plan has already provoked criticism from both ends of the spectrum, with Rovers fans incensed at the idea of the county GAA board effectively owning the home ground.

If it survives this initial introductory stage, the idea is certain to draw criticism from sections of the GAA heartland and, more critically, would have to pass the favour of the central council in order to come into being.

"I don't understand why all this is coming up again," said Bailey yesterday.

"It was never something that the Dublin board committed to in any way and the enquiries that I made were purely of an informal nature."