St Francis Football Club is an Irish association football club originally based in The Liberties in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. They played in the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

from 1996–97 until 2000–01. They currently play in the Leinster Senior League and operate a number of schoolboy and women's teams. The club wear green and white hooped shirts.

History

Early years

St Francis was founded by John Hyland and friends in 1958 initially as a schoolboy club. In 1968, the first adult side was introduced as St Francis joined the Athletic Union League, winning division 2A in their first season. In their second season St Francis won the FAI Junior Cup, the highest honour for junior sides. The club progressed into the intermediate ranks and soon become one of the top teams at that grade, winning the Leinster Senior League four times. In 1989–90 St Francis became the first non-

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

side to reach an FAI Cup Final in over 50 years before finally losing to

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

. Their fairytale story, combined with the final moving to

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

saw a crowd of over 33,000 witness the historic final.

League of Ireland years

St Francis continued to be one of the top Leinster Senior League sides and when

St. James's Gate St. James's Gate, located off the south quays of Dublin, on James's Street, Dublin, James's Street, was the western entrance to the city during the Middle Ages. During this time the gate was the traditional starting point for the Camino pilgrima ...

were expelled from the

, St Francis were invited to apply along with two other clubs to take their place. The club's first senior game was a drab drawn tie against Longford Town in the

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

. Their first League of Ireland game ended in a 4–0 defeat to Waterford United on 11 October 1996. St Francis struggled to make an impact in the

. Both their traditional Liberties home and their adopted home of

Clondalkin Clondalkin () is a suburban village in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, approximately west of Dublin city centre. It is within the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council, South Dublin. Clondalkin is also the na ...

are areas which St Patrick's Athletic claim many fans from, and St Francis's crowds were small, even by First Division standards. In their five seasons in the league, St Francis never finished out of the bottom three. After finishing bottom for the third time in the 2000–01, director Alan Duncan approached St. Patrick's Athletic with a view to merging. St Pats managing director Pat Dolan was receptive to the idea and two weeks before the 2001–02 season, St Francis withdrew from the league. A hurriedly arranged joint press conference was called to announce the arrival of the ''Dublin Saints'' after the proposed merger was revealed on a website. St. Pats fans were outraged as their club announced plans to call the club ''St Patrick's Athletic including St Francis F.C.''. In a meeting with St Francis supporters, Duncan spoke of his wish that the new club be officially renamed the Dublin Saints. As the season progressed, the merger talks broke down and the merger never materialised. Pats did use John Hyland Park for some friendlies and for underage games, but the ground was never in their possession as it was held in trust for use by St Francis only.

After the League of Ireland

St Francis did not field an adult team in 2001–02. However they regrouped and subsequently re-entered the Leinster Senior League.

John Hyland Park

St Francis play their home games at John Hyland Park in Baldonnel, close to

Honours

* Leinster Senior League **''Winners'': 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1995–96: 4 * FAI Junior Cup **''Winners'':1968–69, 1982–83: 2 *

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

**''Runners up'': 1989–90: 1

References

External links

Official St Francis Football Club website"'You can't lose, you'll make the league look bad'"

RTÉ Sport RTÉ Sport is a department of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. The department provides sporting coverage through a number of platforms including RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Player, RTÉ Player Sport and RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ h ...

, 13 May 2020. {{Coord, 53, 18, 10.5, N, 6, 25, 49.8, W, region:IE_type:landmark, display=title 1958 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs established in 1958 Association football clubs in South Dublin (county) Former Athletic Union League (Dublin) clubs Former League of Ireland clubs Leinster Senior League (association football) clubs