St Francis FC are one of the newly announced teams in the FAI National League

St Francis part of new National League

Michael Howley January 8, 2026 11:06 am

ST FRANICS FC are one of the newly announced teams to be a part of the FAI National League.

The competition is set to hold its inaugural season in 2026 with the first year of the competition being a mini league of sorts during the second half of the year before teams become more consolidated and make the transition.

Alan Henvey of St Francis FC spoke on the competition and the application process.

“As soon as we heard it was being talked about it was something that we were certainly interested in.

‘We find it to be the next step for the club. We already satisfied the requirement due to the great work that people have been putting in over the last few years in the club.

‘The structure was already there, the facilities were there. From an FAI point of view we ticked all the boxes.”

The National League was brought to life as a way to bridge the gap between amateur and professional football in the country.

Eventually teams that win the national league will have the opportunity to enter into the First Division provided they are able to make the switch to professional football.

‘This will likely take some time for teams to be capable of making the switch but shows a clear long term goal for the competition.

The league also represents a clear pathway for players to progress to League of Ireland level.”

St Francis are a team that will be continuing to grow their own youth sections and now will have the possibility of offering football at the highest levels in the country to their own youth prospects.

Our underage section is extremely important to the club. Anything we do is done with a view to protecting it.”

“From a players point of view they can see that they are joining a club where if they develop at that club they could be playing on the national stage week in and week out and potentially on the professional stage much later.”