Their supporters may want to see footballs being kicked in anger at their new home before they finally believe that it's true, but Shamrock Rovers' long and difficult journey from Milltown to their new home in Tallaght looks set to end after two of Dublin's most prominent businessmen agreed deals with the club worth over €8 million.

While the news that well-known publican Hugh O'Regan had agreed to pay annual rent of €300,000 for the club's bars in its new stadium at Tallaght came as no great surprise when it was confirmed yesterday, the details of the deal reached with Ben Dunne for the construction of a fitness centre on part of the 11-acre site where the ground is located represents an enormous boost to Rovers.

Contact was established with Dunne only three weeks ago, but by Wednesday the basics of the deal had been agreed in writing, with Barkisland Developments Limited undertaking to pay Rovers, who play in Longford this evening, €2 million in cash and provide them with a stand in return for the space required to build a fitness club which club officials said yesterday would contain between 40,000 and 50,000 square feet of floor space. It is also expected that the development will include a 50-metre swimming pool.

The deal is subject to planning permission for the development being obtained, but Rovers chairman Tony Maguire insisted yesterday that he anticipates receiving the enthusiastic support of South Dublin County Council, as well as the backing of the local community.

"We've been in almost constant contact with the council, talking about ways in which the space could best be used, and I would expect them to be fully behind these plans," he said. "I have no doubt that local people will get behind it too. Even the people who opposed the construction of this stadium when it was originally put forward want to see it completed now, and a facility of the quality that we are now talking about building can only enhance the area as a whole and be good for all of the people of Tallaght."

Dunne will pay 10 per cent of the money up front with the rest following if and when planning permission has been granted. The new stand, which will be behind one of the goals and adjacent to the leisure centre, will then be included in the building project and will hold 2,000 seats.

O'Regan, meanwhile, is expected to sign his deal with the club within the next to weeks. It will run for 20 years and involve an initial rent of €300,000, subject to five-year reviews.

Even excluding the cost of the new stand to be provided by Dunne's company, it brings the value of yesterday's announcement to a minimum of €8 million, far beyond anything achieved by an eircom League club before.

The club's intention is to borrow against the anticipated revenue in order to complete phase one of the development and, after countless delays, to get into the ground at the earliest possible opportunity.

"We believe that we can have the money sorted out by the end of the month, and with the building trade not being as hectic as it was a little while back we might even have work going on the site again by the start of June," said Maguire. "After that, we've been told, it will be five months before we're in. We have a busy run in to the season, with three home games in our last four, and it's not completely out of the question that those games will be played in our new home."

The total cost of completing phase one, which includes the initial work on the pitch, a 3,500-seat stand, administrative facilities, various function rooms and car parking is now put at €9.5 million, of which just under half has already been spent on the development.

"Even before Ben Dunne became involved we were working on securing a loan of €5 million which would have allowed us to get things finished," said Maguire, "but Ben's €2 million has really pushed us on over the line."

He said that the board has yet to consider how this money can best be used, but that his own preference would be for reducing the level of debt required. Getting into Tallaght, he added, would be worth €250,000 annually to the club which will save on rent, generate money from advertising and the naming the rights on the ground as well, it is anticipated, as increasing gate receipts.

Given the stakes, from the club's point of view, it was hardly surprising that there was a good deal of emotion at yesterday's press conference, which was attended by former chairman Joe Colwell, manager Liam Buckley and a number of other players and officials.

It was, however, Mick Kearns, supporter, director and now project manager for the development of the stadium, who made a passionate address to the club's fans before the meeting broke up. "This club has been without a home for far too long," he said. "Seventeen years of hell we've had, but that's about to end."

It won't the first time the club's long-suffering followers have heard that sort of talk, but this time, it seems, the end of the road really is in sight.