St Francis Ladies Football Club is an Irish association football club based in

Baldonnel, County Dublin Baldonnel () is a townland in west County Dublin. It is an industrial/agricultural area near Rathcoole, Clondalkin, Tallaght, Lucan, Saggart and Naas. It is around 15 km west of Dublin city centre. The name derives from former landowners in ...

. It is the women's section of St Francis F.C. They have entered teams in both the

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI Cup. Organised ...

and the

Dublin Women's Soccer League The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams f ...

. They also represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

in the 2009–10 and

2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League was the tenth edition of the European women's championship for football clubs. The final was held in London, England on 26 May 2011 at Craven Cottage. French side Olympique Lyon won the competition af ...

History

In 2008 and 2009 with a squad that included Mary Waldron, Grainne Kierans and

Megan Campbell Megan Campbell (born 28 June 1993) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Women's Championship club London City Lionesses and as a left back & center back for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team, R ...

, St Francis won two successive

doubles. In the 2008 FAI Women's Cup final, Waldron hit an injury–time winner from the penalty spot as St Francis beat Peamount United 2–1 at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

. In the 2009 FAI Women's Cup final St Francis defeated St Catherine's 1–0. They also retained the

title and won the 2009

DWSL Premier Cup The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams f ...

St Francis in Europe

2009–10 UEFA Women's Champions League

After winning the 2008

, St Francis qualified for the

2009–10 UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League 2009–10 was the first edition of the newly branded tournament, and the ninth edition of a UEFA tournament for women's champion football clubs. For the first time the top 8 leagues of the UEFA were awarded two ...

. All of the group matches were played in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

at the

Tsirion Stadium The Tsirio Stadium () is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Limassol, Cyprus. The stadium holds 13,331 people and is mostly used for football matches. It was the home ground of the three biggest clubs in Limassol, which have now moved to t ...

and the

Pafiako Stadium The Stelios Kyriakides Stadium (previous Pafiako Stadium) () is a multi-use stadium in Paphos, the stadium holds 9,394 people. It has a full size running track around the outside of its football and rugby playing field and is used for many athlet ...

. St Francis lost all three matches in the tournament. Veteran

, international Grainne Kierans highlighted the gap in funding with their opponents. Kierans observed that "one of the teams had a budget of €700,000 to €1 million, whereas we had to raise the money ourselves to go there".

Group F

2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League

After winning the 2009

, St Francis qualified for the

. Their group matches were played in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

at the

Stadion Gradski vrt Gradski vrt Stadium () is a multi-use stadium in Osijek, Croatia. It is located in the Gradski vrt neighbourhood in Novi grad city district. With a capacity of 18,856, it has been best known as the home ground of Croatian football club NK Osij ...

and at the

Stadion HNK Cibalia Stadion Cibalia is a multi-purpose stadium in Vinkovci, Croatia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of HNK Cibalia. It has a grass court, surrounded with a clay running surface, and stands, a part of which is ...

. St Francis' squad included among others,

, Kelly Jones and

Cheryl Foster Cheryl Foster (born 4 October 1980) is a Welsh football referee and former player. She became the all-time record appearance holder for the Wales women's national football team in 2009, after making her senior international debut in 1997. At cl ...

. The latter two were both on loan from

Liverpool L.F.C. Liverpool Football Club, commonly referred to as Liverpool or Liverpool Football Club Women if distinguishing themselves from the men's team, is a professional English women's football team based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. They have ...

After winning their opening game 4–1 against 1º Dezembro, St Francis lost their second game 9–0 to Rossiyanka. However St Francis secured second place in the tournament with a 5–3 win against the hosts,

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, despite being 3–0 down at half-time. 2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League

Rsssf The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

Group 6

Notable former players

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
women's internationals

* Sonya Hughes * Grainne Kierans *

Katie McCabe Katie Alison McCabe (born 21 September 1995) is an Irish professional footballer who plays for English Women's Super League club Arsenal and captains the Republic of Ireland women's national team. Mainly a left back, she can also operate as ...

* Grace Murray * Mary Waldron

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
women's internationals

Honours

**''Winners'': 2008, 2009: 2 *

**''Winners'':

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, 2009: 2 *

**''Winners'': 2009: 1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Francis L.F.C.

Ladies ''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. "Lady" is al ...

Association football clubs in South Dublin (county) Association football clubs established in 2006 2006 establishments in Ireland Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Dublin Women's Soccer League teams