St Joseph's AFC

Club identity

St Joseph’s AFC, Sallynoggin

St Joseph’s AFC is a schoolboy and schoolgirl football club based in Sallynoggin on the south side of Dublin. The club is widely known as Joeys and is listed by the DDSL at Pearse Park, Sallynoggin.

The official club history gives 1953 as the foundation year and says St Joseph’s Boys was founded by Fr Frank McCabe and Brendan Harmon to provide youth football around the greater Dun Laoghaire area. The same history records the first match in Phoenix Park in September 1953 before the club grew its Sallynoggin base.

The Joeys crest carries the red ring, black and white striped shield, red cross, soccer ball, 19 and 53 ribbon, Sallynoggin wording and the motto “forward to the goal.”

Home ground

Pearse Park, Sallynoggin

The DDSL profile lists the club at Pearse Park, Sallynoggin and gives black and white stripes with red as the colour information. The IYF record carries Pearse Park, Sallynoggin, County Dublin with Eircode A96 R2V0.

Pearse Park is more than a single pitch. The club’s own About page describes seven grass pitches, with three small sided game pitches and four full size pitches. It also describes office space, administration space and a director of football role in the club facility.

Visitors should confirm the exact pitch, entrance, kickoff and meeting point before travelling. A club this large can have several age groups on site, and match allocations can change with weather or league scheduling.

Open Pearse Park directions

Facilities

Seven pitches, clubhouse and training areas

The club describes seven maintained grass pitches as one of its prize assets. It says the current clubhouse changed the club when it opened in the early 2000s, with changing rooms, an indoor hall, shower areas, a lounge, meeting rooms and classroom space.

The About page also describes three all weather training areas installed in 2010. When not used by Joeys, the club says these areas serve as a social outlet for local children.

Cafe 53 opened in 2012 and is described by the club as an evening meeting point for parents waiting on training or games. The club shop is also listed on the official page for Joeys gear.

History

From 1953 through the great schoolboy decades

The club history tracks a long rise from the first Phoenix Park match into one of Dublin’s best known underage football names. In the 1960s, Joeys built its first clubhouse through local volunteer work and won an early FAI Cup at under 15 level in 1966.

The 1970s are described by the club as a period of exceptional success across schoolboy football, with strong teams from 10 to 18 and a wave of schoolboy and youth internationals. The same history says St Joseph’s Boys won the FAI Youth Cup and Leinster Junior Cup in 1978.

Later decades brought more tours, partnerships and player development links, including Bray Wanderers, Newcastle United and other short partnerships. The purpose built facility opened for the fiftieth anniversary, and girls teams became a larger part of the club story in the 2000s.

Player pathway

Boys and girls football across many ages

The live IYF record links Joeys to many DDSL team records across the 2026-2027 season. The public page shows boys and girls teams across a broad youth range, while also noting that linked records should not be treated as a guaranteed complete team list.

The DDSL club profile and fixture listings show current competition activity using St Joseph’s AFC and Pearse Park. For parents, the safest path is to confirm the correct birth year, team label, training night and coach through Joeys’ current club channels.

Because squad names, divisions and age groups can change each season, this page records the pathway rather than freezing every team into a permanent claim.

Honours

A national reputation built through youth success

Joeys’ official history names a long list of schoolboy, youth, junior and senior honours, plus Irish international and professional pathways. Rather than reproduce the whole honours list, this profile highlights sourced examples that show the scale of the club record.

A Dublin Gazette report on Joeys’ U14 Premier group described a side already collecting trophies and chasing a third SFAI title in a row. The existing IYF profile also records a later four trophy season for a Joeys U14 group, including league, DDSL cup and SFAI national cup success.

The club history names senior internationals connected with Joeys, including Alan Campbell, Alan O’Brien, Paul McShane, Andy Keogh, Eamon Zayed, Alan Judge, Sean Maguire and others. Families should treat this as evidence of a strong development record rather than a promise of any individual route.

League of Ireland pathway

Shamrock Rovers alliance

In 2024 Shamrock Rovers announced a club alliance with St Joseph’s AFC. Reporting on the alliance described Joeys as one of Dublin’s biggest schoolboy clubs and said the aim was to create a player pathway and shared development environment between the clubs.

The announcement matters because it gives talented Joeys players a structured link into League of Ireland football while St Joseph’s continues to operate as its own Sallynoggin club. It also sits naturally beside the club’s older history of partnerships with Bray Wanderers and overseas clubs.

Player pathways can change, so families should confirm the current arrangement and any trial or academy process through Joeys and Shamrock Rovers rather than relying on old posts.

Colours and crest

Black and white stripes with red change colours

The DDSL profile lists the club colours as black and white stripes and red. The crest reflects that same identity: red outer ring, black and white central shield and black ribbon.

The motto “forward to the goal” sits on the ribbon below the badge. The year is shown as 19 and 53 on either side, matching the 1953 foundation story.

Those details remain the public identity of the club and match the black, white and red colour story used across the page.

Membership and updates

ClubZap and Joeys channels carry live notices

The Joeys ClubZap site has carried expressions of interest and open training notices, including age group time tables and Pearse Park details. Those notices are time sensitive, so they should be used as examples of the registration route rather than current open dates.

Families looking to join should check the newest official Joeys news, then confirm the right age group, whether places are open, what to bring to training and whether online registration is required before attending.

For match information, use the current DDSL listing and team communication. Public match pages can show venue and referee information, but late changes can still happen.

Visitors

Before travelling to Pearse Park

Confirm the team label, age group, competition, surface, kickoff and arrival time. Pearse Park has several playing areas, so simply arriving at the ground may not be enough if multiple games are running.

Players should bring boots suitable for the assigned surface, shin guards, water and clothes for changing weather. Parents of younger players should confirm the collection point and the adult responsible for the group.

If a fixture lists another venue, trust the live team or league notice over the club profile page. The profile records the home base; individual fixtures can still move.

Sources

Where this profile was checked

Official Joeys website
Official About page and club history
DDSL club profile
Joeys ClubZap news
Expression of interest and Pearse Park training notice
Shamrock Rovers alliance report
Shamrock Rovers alliance announcement
Dublin Gazette Joeys cup report
IYF club record and linked team data

Current squads, fees, training nights, coaching contacts, safeguarding contacts, fixtures and pitch assignments should be confirmed through St Joseph’s AFC or the DDSL before travelling.