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

The Liberties The Liberties ( Irish: ''Na Saoirsí'' or occasionally ''Na Libirtí'') is an area in central Dublin, Ireland, located in the southwest of the inner city. Formed from various areas of special manorial jurisdiction, separate from the main ci ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. They played in the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. ...

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 FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairv ...

, 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 ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

side to reach an

FAI Cup Final The FAI Cup Final, known recently as the FAI Ford Cup Final for sponsorship reasons, is an annual soccer match which is the last game in the Football Association of Ireland Challenge Cup. It is the culmination of a knock-out competition among club ...

in over 50 years before finally losing to

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) 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 ''B ...

. Their fairytale story, combined with the final moving to

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) 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 ...

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, was the western entrance to the city during the Middle Ages. During this time the gate was the traditional starting point for the Camino pilgrimage from Dublin to Santiag ...

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 Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the mee ...

in the

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invite ...

. Their first League of Ireland game ended in a 4–0 defeat to

Waterford United Waterford Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Phort Láirge) formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland First Division. The club was founded and elected to the ...

on 11 October 1996. St Francis struggled to make an impact in the

. Both their traditional

Liberties Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society f ...

home and their adopted home of

Clondalkin Clondalkin ( ; ) is a suburban town situated 10 km south-west of Dublin city centre, Ireland, under the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin. It features an 8th-century round tower that acts as a focal point for the area. Clondalk ...

are areas which

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origina ...

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 Patrick Dolan (born 20 September 1967 in Galway, Ireland) is a former football player, manager, and executive. He is also a former soccer analyst on RTÉ Sport. He is currently a FIFA-registered players' agenand has represented a number of pl ...

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 St Francis Football Club is an Irish association football club originally based in The Liberties in Dublin. They played in the League of Ireland First Division from 1996–97 until 2000–01. They currently play in the Leinster Senior Leagu ...

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 *

**''Winners'':1968–69, 1982–83: 2 *

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

**''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 Sport and RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ holds the televisi ...

, 13 May 2020. {{League of Ireland clubs 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