Waterford city, 1959
Black and amber at St Martin’s Park
Black and amber football carries Waterford junior and schoolboy players from the St Martin’s Park home.
A Waterford club with a long name in local football
Johnville FC is a Waterford city football club with roots going back to 1959. The old club site gives that year as the start point, and the club’s later history has kept the name close to Waterford junior football, schoolboy football and the St Martin’s Park ground.
The crest says plenty about the club identity. The black and amber ball sits beside a Waterford ships motif, with a curled football mark below and the Johnville F.C. ribbon across the base. It is a local badge rather than a generic mark, and it matches the black and amber colours that people in Waterford football associate with the Jonnies.
St Martin’s Park and the Williamstown side of the city
St Martin’s Park is the Johnville home. Local reporting places recent activity at Johnville Football Club in Williamstown, while football listings connect the club to St Martin’s Park and the Waterford city football scene around Carrickphierish and St John’s Park.
The ground has had visible care in recent seasons. A 2026 Waterford News & Star visit described newly installed LED lights, adult goalposts, a pitch recently sanded with more than 90 tonnes of sand and an astro area that had been resurfaced. For visiting teams, that points to a working local football ground with both grass and astro use in the weekly routine.
Academy roots and schoolboy football
The present Johnville story includes young players coming through the academy into competitive schoolboy football. In 2026, a group of 12-year-olds were described as the first players to pass through the academy training together, having started around seven or eight years of age.
That pathway is practical as much as sentimental. Most of that group were from the St John’s Park area, and the club setting asks young players to treat training and match days with care. It gives parents a clear picture of a local club trying to restore standards through coaching, discipline and pride in the ground.
Young players are brought into the club setting before schoolboy competition.
Older players can see a Waterford junior football name at the same ground.
Junior football and a Munster record
Johnville’s junior side carries one of the stronger provincial records in Waterford club football. The Munster FA roll of honour names Johnville as Munster Junior Cup winners in 1973-74, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1992-93 and 1995-96, with further final appearances in 1972-73 and 1978-79.
The club also has a youth record on the Munster stage. The Munster Youths Cup list names Johnville as winners in 1986-87 and finalists in 1969-70, 1981-82 and 1987-88. For a family arriving at St Martin’s Park now, those dates give the ground a deeper feel: this is a place that has sent teams into big Waterford and Munster days before.
Renewal through local volunteers
Recent coverage of Johnville described a club that had come through a difficult spell and then pulled itself back through local volunteer work. The quote that sticks is simple: the club had come a long way and there was pride in what had been put back into the place.
That renewal counts on an ordinary Saturday as much as in a cup final. Better lighting, a cared-for grass surface and a resurfaced astro area help coaches run sessions, help parents know where they are going, and give young players a ground that feels like theirs.
Visiting and joining
For visiting teams, the ground to find is St Martin’s Park in Waterford. Use the live fixture module for the latest match state, then check the club’s current channel if travel, weather or pitch use could change close to kick off.
For new families, Johnville is best understood as a black and amber Waterford club with academy roots, schoolboy football and junior football in one setting. The right first step is a current club contact before registration, training or team availability is assumed.