St Francis FC set for long-term lease on Iona Park

One of Athlone's most prominent schoolboy football clubs, St Francis FC, looks set to agree a new long-term lease with the council for the continued use of its home ground, Iona Park.

At the November meeting of the Athlone Municipal District, Cllr Aengus O'Rourke put forward a motion calling on the local authority to engage with the club "with a view to entering into a long-term lease arrangement for the use of the Iona Park football grounds."

The council replied that it would liaise with St Francis FC, adding that it had "no objection in principle" to offering the club a long-term lease. Once an agreement has been reached with the club, it will then come back before the councillors for final approval.

Cllr O'Rourke said St Francis FC has been playing in Iona Park for a long time, but it currently has "only a few years left" on its lease.

He added that the club has plans to modernise its ground and improve the changing rooms, but in order to apply for funding support it needed to have certainty over its future use of Iona Park.

"St Francis has 250 players playing at all levels. It's a well-supported club, and it deserves our support," said Cllr O'Rourke. His motion was unanimously backed by the other councillors.

In the League of Ireland, former St Francis player Robbie Benson recently won the league and cup double with Dundalk. The midfielder was also named on the 'team of the season' by pundits on the RTE highlights programme, Soccer Republic.