Dublin county chairman John Egan yesterday had two positive announcements about the county board's beleaguered finances. Firstly there was the appointment of accountant Barry Gavin as commercial manager responsible for "maximising fund-raising, commercial sponsorship and corporate financial support".

Of more immediate significance, however, was the news that the board had secured an interest-free, long-term loan of £1,000,000, raised jointly from Croke Park and the Leinster Council.

This important development is the result of intensive lobbying and presentations to promote the special needs of the county which caters for one third of the population and which has been labouring under the weight of a £1,700,000 debt after the redevelopment of Parnell Park as a county ground.

Egan outlined the county board's thinking. "When I took over as chairman last year, we appointed a finance committee and had some of the top financial brains in the city, like Robbie Kelleher, Sean Donnelly, Davy Billings - people of that calibre. They analysed the figures over the previous number of years and reckoned that we needed to tackle this on a professional level.

"The first thing is that we have to tackle the present overdraft and the debt of £1.7 million that's still there. More importantly, we're looking to the future and the overall development of the games. "On the physical side, we've a site in Rathcoole we want to develop, and also, on the games development side, we've a lot of coaches going into schools and we want to put in more. Our aim is to produce the best footballers and hurlers in the county."

Gavin (32), a DCU business graduate, is an accountant with a sales and marketing background. A former under-age dual player with Dublin, who played in the 1983 All-Ireland minor final in the opposite corner of the attack to Niall Quinn, he is also a brother of Dublin All-Ireland medallist Jim.

"When I start on January 1st," he said, "I'll be sitting down with the group of people who appointed me and we'll be agreeing targets and objectives for the year. My initial target in year one will be to generate an income stream to go towards eliminating the debt, and also correct the current deficit situation.

"Part of my brief will be to identify opportunities that are out there. There is a huge level of goodwill towards Dublin and there will always be people who will support us because they've an interest in Dublin GAA. But we have to look past them and produce a product which will appeal to the wider audience.

"At the end of the day the corporate sector will only get involved if they see payback. We have a very strong brand and a huge level of membership. It's a matter of packaging that to the relevant organisations."