Formation In the mid-1920s, Leo Fitzmaurice – brother of Trans-Atlantic aviator
James Fitzmaurice – organised a street football league in the
Drumcondra /
Whitehall area of
Northside Dublin. This league originally featured five teams – Drumcondra Road, Ormonde Road, Hollybank Road, Richmond Road and Home Farm Road. In 1928, the latter two (led by Don Seery and
Brendan Menton Snr respectively) merged to form Home Farm Football Club.
Academy Club Home Farm soon established a reputation for developing schoolboys into senior international footballers. In 1936 when they won the Free State Minor Cup, the team included
Johnny Carey. By 1937 Carey, together with
Paddy Farrell and
Kevin O'Flanagan, was one of at least three former Home Farm players who had become Irish internationals, having played for the
FAI XI. Carey and O'Flanagan made their debut in the same game against
Norway on 7 November 1937, in a qualifier for the
1938 World Cup. O'Flanagan scored in what was a 3–3 draw. All three would also play for the
IFA XI. Carey went on to become a regular at
Manchester United and was the first of several Home Farm graduates who established themselves at the club. In 1953
Liam Whelan, one of the so-called '
Busby Babes' and among the victims of the
Munich air disaster, made the same journey. The club's youth teams continued to win trophies and in 1964–65, provided both finalists in the 1965
FAI Youth Cup. Meanwhile, Home Farm Under-14s, managed by coach Joe Fitzpatrick, earned a place in the
Guinness Book of Records for their match winning sequence of 79 games between 1968 and 1971.
League of Ireland (1972–99) In
1972 Home Farm and their trustees,
Brendan Menton Sr. and Don Seery, finally got a chance to field a senior team in the
League of Ireland when they merged with
Drumcondra. Drums were £6,000 in debt and regularly propping up the league table. After almost 20 years in charge, Sam Prole sold the club to the junior team down the road. As part of the deal Home Farm also gained
Tolka Park as home ground. Home Farm also agreed to keep the famous Drums name alive by playing under the name
Home Farm Drumcondra but, after just a year, they infuriated the Prole family by reverting to the name Home Farm. McSeveney resigned in his first season, leaving former Everton coach Tommy Eglinton to fill in until
Dave Bacuzzi, who had coached at Eton College, was appointed in April 1974. As a result, they became the first amateur team to win the
FAI Cup in forty years. The following season they competed in the
European Cup Winners Cup, playing against French side,
RC Lens. They drew 1–1 at home but lost the away leg 6–0. Despite this cup success, their performances in the League of Ireland were poor and between
1972 and
1987, when they were relegated to the
League of Ireland First Division, they never finished higher than ninth. The club, however, continued to produce players like
Ronnie Whelan. During the 1980s, Whelan became an established player at
Liverpool and was a key member of the
Republic of Ireland team under
Jack Charlton. During the 1990s, the club's youth team set another Guinness World Record when they went unbeaten for five years. Featuring future Irish internationals
Graham Kavanagh and
Gary Kelly, the squad — managed by Paddy Hilliard — played a total of 203 games without defeat.
Home Farm Everton In 1995, Home Farm linked up with
Everton in a sponsorship deal which resulted in the club briefly becoming known as 'Home Farm Everton'. As part of the deal, Everton got first choice of the best Home Farm players and in 1996 they signed
Richard Dunne. At the end of the
1995–96 season
Home Farm Everton finished third in the First Division and then beat
Athlone Town in a promotion/relegation play-off and returned to the League of Ireland top division. During the subsequent season
Steve Archibald briefly played for the club. However, after a poor performance against
Derry City, Archibald was allegedly told to "eff off home" by then manager
Dermot Keely. After just one season back in the top division, they were relegated. Keely subsequently guided the club to success in the
League of Ireland First Division Shield in 1998. The club continued to play as
Home Farm Everton until
1999.
Split In 1999 when the sponsorship deal with
Everton collapsed, Home Farm decided to abandon their League of Ireland ambitions. However Ronan Seery, the club's chief executive officer, persuaded the club to sell their franchise to him. This effectively resulted in a split within the club. Seery subsequently formed a new professional team,
Home Farm Fingal.
Fingal is an old name for an area corresponding approximately with
Northside Dublin. They took Home Farm Everton's place for the
1999–2000 season before changing their name to
Dublin City in
2001. Meanwhile, the amateur and youth sections began playing once again as
Home Farm F.C. and their senior team entered the
Leinster Senior League. The club merged with Whitehall neighbours Belgrove F.C. and competed as Belgrove/Home Farm F.C., entering the
2014 FAI Cup. In December 2025, Home Farm were one of 15 clubs accepted into the
FAI National League, a new step in the
Republic of Ireland football league pyramid, due to begin in Autumn 2026. ==Home Farm U14s==