Early years St Francis F.C. was founded in
the Liberties by John Hyland and friends in 1958. Their fairytale story, combined with the final moving to
Lansdowne Road 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 were expelled from the
League of Ireland First Division, 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. 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
League of Ireland First Division. Both their traditional
Liberties home and their adopted home of
Clondalkin 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==