The Dublin County Board are expected to use the €2m promised to them by the GAA for the scrapped development of a green site in Rathcoole to go towards the rental fees in becoming tenants-in-chief there.

Money from Croke Park’s staging of rugby and soccer games in the 2000s had been ring-fenced for the project in the south-west of the county.

The GAA have contributed €8m towards their NSC development, which also includes 10 dressing rooms, a 450-seat stand and ancillary facilities. In his annual report released last month, director general Páraic Duffy said the centre will assist the Leinster Council as well as Dublin in delivering its games programmes. Duffy has previously stressed Dublin won’t have exclusive use of the centre although the county board have made it clear their intentions to take up training residency there.

They have also estimated the take-up from neighbouring counties to use the venue won’t be large.

Dublin’s relocation from Glasnevin would be ideal particularly for Jim Gavin’s footballers. Their strength and conditioning work has been done in the National Athletic Development Academy, two kilometres away from the NSC. Since December 2012, they have also had a partnership with the NSC’s National Aquatic Centre (NAC) “as part of their overall training and recuperation strategy”.

Despite the wild weather,the 1st Truss of the new National Indoor Arena have just been put in place!#sportliveshere pic.twitter.com/JuHyOqVqis

— Sport Ireland Campus (@SportIreCampus) February 9, 2016

On top of that, the NAC provide access to the group to its other venues for any training requirements including Santry’s Morton Stadium.

The NSC has taken great pride in being associated with the success of the footballers, congratulating them on their victories. After their 2014 Division 1 success, the campus’ chief executive David Conway said: “We were delighted to help Jim and his team lift their second National League title in a row. Again this shows the excellent world class facility and service we offer at the Centre and on the Campus”.

The establishment of a centre of excellence on both sides of the River Liffey formed part of the county’s “Unleashing ‘The Blue Wave’” strategic plan, 2011-17. By the end of next year, they had hoped such infrastructure would be in place to provide “for all the needs of all Dublin inter-county teams”.

In his report to convention in December, Dublin County Board secretary John Costello said the 25,000 stadium they had hoped to build in last year’s unsuccessful bid to purchase from NAMA the Spawell site in Templeogue could have doubled up as “an alternative centre of excellence”.

News of Dublin’s imminent switch to a ready-made facility comes after another annual GAA financial report revealed the county receive more funding for games development than the other 31 counties combined. Kerry are also hoping this year to raise the remaining funds for their €5.8m centre of excellence in Currans. They will contribute approx €2m themselves after Croke Park, the Munster Council and sponsors Kerry Group each donated €1m.

Several Leinster counties have no problem with Dublin benefitting most from the centre. Meath have their own centre of excellence in Dunganny but the county may look to stage some games in Abbotstown.

“We don’t have an issue with what Dublin are getting; we just want to get more ourselves,” remarked county chairman Conor Tormey. “There’s no point in us keep saying ‘well, Dublin have this’. We want to get what we can out of it and let every other county fight for themselves whether it’s Dublin or anybody else.”

Wicklow have a centre of excellence established in Ballinakill but chairman Martin Coleman said the GAA’s NSC centre may be of value to those in Bray and Greystones.

“It’s good to see a centre there with Dublin involved.

“They are getting a lot of knocking lately about funding but they are catering for the biggest amount of GAA players in any county.”

Wexford chairman Diarmuid Devereux ruled out the county using the facility because of the distances involved.

Wexford have their own centre of excellence in Ferns. “We’ve had our share of funding from the Leinster Council and Croke Park and we would love to see all 32 counties having a Ferns,” he said.

“We have done well with the support we received.

“We have to realise there are more people in Dublin and therefore more potential for people to play Gaelic games there.

“The association will have to continue catering for Dublin because of the demographics.”