Bohemians last night completed the sale of Dalymount Park after a marathon meeting with the purchaser of the ground - developer Liam Carroll.

Members attending the club's agm last night were informed that contracts had been signed during the preceding hours by members of the Bohemians committee, after a number of outstanding details relating to the deal had been resolved.

Both parties are now expected to press ahead with preparations to relocate the club to a new site adjacent to Dublin airport in a deal that is worth approximately 165 million. It is still expected, however, to be in the region of five years before the League of Ireland Premier Division outfit vacate Dalymount - their home for more than 100 years.

Meanwhile, attendances at League of Ireland games have increased by more than a third during the opening six weeks of the new season, FAI officials revealed yesterday. The increase of 37.16 per cent equates to an average of fractionally more than 400 additional spectators at every game played in the two divisions so far.

In terms of total numbers, 97,656 people have attended the 66 games played so far compared with the 65,828 who watched the first 61 games of the last campaign.

"We're absolutely delighted," said league director Fran Gavin yesterday. "It's good news and after what have been a difficult few weeks with the FIFA registration problems we'll take all the good news we can get.

"The marketing campaign that we have undertaken has been going very well for us, the advertising has worked well and all of the people at the clubs who have been working with Noel Mooney to promote the league have been doing a tremendous job."

Predictably, the scale of the increases vary considerably from week to week according to what games were played but the numbers have been up every time, most notably in weeks two and five when improvements of 66 per cent and 47 per cent
were achieved respectively.

Gavin, meanwhile, said the FAI remained committed to the ongoing campaign by Cork City to win the right to register two of their most prominent close season signings, international midfielders Gareth Farrelly and Colin Healy.

The club made a new submission to FIFA on Tuesday effectively asking the international governing body to reconsider its own ruling in the case
on the basis of club officials believe are inconsistencies in the rules.

They are also preparing to lodge a case with the Court of Arbitration in Sport which they must complete by tomorrow and Gavin says Merrion Square are providing support. "Hopefully City will succeed in having the decision in relation to the players reversed, but whatever happens we will look to have the rules changed
during the summer and we expect to have the support of EFPL (association of European Professional Football Leagues) in our efforts to do so."