Ian O'Riordan explains why Dublin football has long had an ambivalent attitude to recruiting outside talent

Croke Park, late next September, the new Hill all navy blue and Dublin football buzzing again. Only some Dublin supporters start to wonder why the winning point has been scored by an outsider. Could they not have done it without him? Is it really the same?

Just one of the thoughts running through Dublin minds at present. The definition of the county jersey is about to be revisited and emotions are running high. And it seems talk of identity and loyalty, and the very ethos of the GAA, is now tangled up in blue.

Emotions are ranging wide too - from those who say Dublin doesn't need players coming in from outside to those who say Dublin should start sending players in the other direction. A week from Monday the county board will formally open the debate on the issue, but don't expect them to walk out with a licence to recruit and a list of telephone numbers a three-digit prefixes. It will be a starting point, not a turning point.

"This is a regular county board meeting," says chairman John Bailey. "Like any other meeting we have agendas to discuss, and one of those will be where Dublin stands on bringing in players from outside the county. We'll debate the issue in the normal way and then it will go back to management for consideration."

It's likely such "consideration" will mean the setting up of a sub-committee, who'll need to examine in full the implications, maybe introduce some by-law.

"This is an incredibly sensitive issue," adds Bailey. "I would say opinions are split 50-50, but that some people are 100 per cent for it, and others are 100 per cent against it."

Bailey, like so many people in Dublin, is careful to avoid the word "Gallagher". But clearly what has fuelled the debate is the residency in Dublin of the cousins Rory and Raymond Gallagher, formerly scoring artists with Fermanagh, now closing in on the Dublin panel via services to St Brigid's.

Yet for all the sacredness of the county jersey, it's worth recalling that much of Dublin's football success has relied on so-called outsiders. In 1942 Dublin won the All-Ireland and they say only three players were genuine natives. One of that team was Bobby Beggs, who first played for Dublin and lost the 1934 final to Galway. Four years later he was on the Galway team that beat Kerry, before reverting to Dublin.

Another of the select few to win football All-Irelands in two different colours was Larry Stanley, victorious with Kildare in 1919 and Dublin in 1923. Later came the Timmons brothers Joe and John, natives of Wicklow, who both helped Dublin to All-Ireland success in 1958.

They say Kevin Heffernan and the St Vincent's philosophy changed all that - if Dublin couldn't win an All-Ireland without Dubliners then they couldn't win one at all.

Yet full back Seán Doherty was a product of Wicklow Town CBS, even if he did play all his underage football for Dublin. And Gay O'Driscoll spent his earliest years in Cork before becoming a "native" Dub.

Much more recently there's been the likes of Niall O'Donoghue, born in Roscommon, and Declan Darcy, welcomed back to Dublin despite spending years with Leitrim. Right now number two goalkeeper Brian Murphy is often referred to as the former Kerry minor, but rarely as the player who then served Dublin at Vocational Schools level. Murphy in fact has only the briefest inter-county record outside of Dublin.

But while the GAA remains open to intercounty players crossing borders, Dublin still thinks differently. Playing club football in Dublin is fine as long as it doesn't go any further. Hardening the issue was the arrival of manager Tommy Lyons in late 2001; he made it clear he wasn't in the business of taking players from "lesser" counties, whatever club they played for.

Outside Dublin the picture is a little clearer. Larry Tompkins has experienced first hand what it means to move county as a player, starting life in Kildare before settling in Cork, and to be a manager who brings in players from the outside.

"Well without a doubt," says Tompkins, "if there was a player living in the county, and wanted to play for the county, then wouldn't it be very foolish not to avail of him.

"We've seen plenty of good players move to different counties, and if the player is living there and setting his seed then I think it would be an awful pity if he was overlooked.

"Of course some people will take grievance at other players coming into a county . . . but I think that's a little immature.

"So let's be honest about it. If I was Tommy Lyons and wanted to win an All-Ireland then I'd take any player that was available to me, whether he was black or white or in between. It should make no difference.

"If he's made himself available then it shouldn't be about where he's come from."

Tompkins has no regrets about his own movements as a player, or about bringing in outside players as Cork manager, the main example being Niall Geary of Waterford, who had established himself with Cork club Nemo Rangers.

"I wouldn't say there was any animosity whatsoever from the other players. It helps when the move develops from a relationship with a club in the county, and it does take a bit of time to gel. But if you prove yourself on the playing field you'll fit in fairly quickly."

Yet what does make the "outsiders" debate significantly more complex in Dublin is the range of implications - such as undermining all the work being done at underage level, or reducing the aspirations of minor and under-21 players, or worse still dividing opinions so far as to cause a split in the county.

And that's not even touching on the issue of what should be done with Dublin hurling. When All Star Ciarán Barr declared for Dublin after a long career with Antrim his club transfer to St Vincent's almost caused a riot.

Should Dublin start chasing those on the fringes of the Kilkenny and Cork and Galway hurling panels?

"Well it's a competitive field out there," says Tompkins. "And if it means that more Dublin players are losing out then it could well present the argument of producing two teams. It would be difficult for the supporters but with such a big population it might be worth considering two teams."

So, debate that.