With strong history in Irish football fuelling the club, St. Francis manager Kevin Smith looks to build on their legacy by succeeding in the FAI National League.

It’s been 36 years since St. Francis became the first ever non-league League of Ireland team to reach a Men’s Senior FAI Cup Final in over 50 years and Smith now has the opportunity to bring his club to new heights in Irish football through this year’s FAI National League.

 ast week Conor Behan wrote himself into the recordbooks of Francis when he netted the club's first FAI National League goal - a sweetly struck free-kick in the 1-1 draw with Letterkenny Rovers. 

While it’s been a challenging start to the season, Smith remains focused on what’s ahead, “It’s been an ok start. I would have liked to have won our first two games don’t get me wrong but the fact we got our first point last week, I’m happy enough with that.

“Obviously the focus turns then to this coming Saturday which will be a tough game because TU Dublin have started really well.”

Smith is not the only one in his family who has a strong passion for St. Francis, he says, “My family have been involved with St. Francis for a long, long time, even going back as far as the FAI Cup Final. I was a schoolboy player for Francis and my father played for Francis, he’s the current chairman now, Kevin Smith Senior, he didn’t play for that particular side but I would have played football and known players on that team and I’d know Pete Mahon quite well, the manager of that team.”

While living up to the achievements of this past team could be a daunting task for some, Smith uses it as fuel to build his team’s own history for the future, he says, “I suppose we have to carry that weight around with us a bit, that that team was so successful, as a junior side they had so much success but that’s just part of the fashion of the club and we’ve just got to accept that.

“It’s great to be part of St. Francis and to have that history, I wouldn’t call it a burden but we want to achieve something like that, we’d like to reach those standards that were set 30 odd years ago by Pete Mahon, Martin Kerr, Gary Matthews, all these player, Greg Coleman, they were all part of that great side that got to the final but it’s always something that’s going on in the background, the focus is now on making new history, lifting silverware in the National League, that’s always been our focus.”

Another key part of continuing on this strong legacy of the club is St. Francis’s youth set up. Smith highlights the programme’s success and says, “Some of our coaches this year have come from schoolboy set up, they’ve taken the step up and joined us in the National League and likewise with some of the players.

“You can judge success by lifting trophies winning cups and winning leagues and stuff like that but we also judge it on the base of the club and how many young lads have been brought through the ranks.”

Along with the clubs impressive run in the 1989/1990 season, they had some difficult times too with a difficult period in the League of Ireland but Smith feels as though St. Francis is ready now to take these next steps forward and take the club to the next level.

Speaking on this, Smith says, “There’s a great buzz behind the National League. Obviously there were people who were sceptical at the start, we had a team in the League of Ireland before, didn’t go great for us but the club is in a much better position now in relation to where we are from a football point of view with all the infrastructure in place, all the schoolboy teams in behind us, schoolboys and schoolgirls, we’ve a women’s section within the club, so all those pieces of the jigsaw are in place now.

“It’s all ready for us to succeed at National League level. I suppose it’s just down to myself and the group of players that we have this year to try and achieve some success and thrive towards those goals, our aim this year is to try get out of our group and into the semi-final stage and hope to get to the final.”

BY ABBY WHELAN