St. Joseph’s Boys received one of the highest accolades in their 55-year history last weekend when they claimed victory in the FAI Club of the Year competition.

The annual event, which the FAI organise in conjunction with the Irish Star Newspaper and the Citywest Hotel, is the culmination of a season during which a series of monthly prizes are given out to worthy winners.

The eight clubs who were successful in obtaining those monthly awards went forward to last week’s final vying for the overall trophy to be selected ahead of the FAI AGM.

Those eight finalists were clubs, Curragh Athletic, St. Michael's AFC, Glaslough Villa, Peamount United, Tullamore Town, Crumlin United, Listowel Celtic and St. Joseph’s Boys.

An independent judging panel, consisting of Paul Cooke (Irish Star), Tom Maher (Citywest), Pauric Corkery (eircom), Paul Martin (FAI volunteer education coordinator), Karl Mitchell (Dublin City council) and Arnold O’Byrne assessed each club on a range of criteria including facilities, participation and coaching.

St. Joseph’s Boys from Sallynoggin in South Dublin, which boasts a membership of almost 1,000 children including six Girls teams, were chosen as the winner.

FAI President, David Blood, acknowledged the huge role made to grassroots sports by Joeys and the contribution it has made within the community - not only in Dublin, but in the sporting community as a whole.

The eyes of the Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni were raised when he discovered that three current International players – Andrew Keogh, Paul McShane and Alan O’Brien - all donned the black and white of Joeys before pursuing a career in England.

In his acceptance speech on behalf of the club, Club Chairman George Forsyth thanked the judging panel and acknowledged it was a privilege to accept the award on behalf of all the 120 leaders, coaches and, indeed, players at St. Joseph’s.

To carry on the ethos of “putting the Player first” laid down by its founders in 1953 shows that the development of children in the right environment, with the right values is, indeed, the way forward, which ultimately benefits society in the long term.

George dedicated the award to the late Austin Mullen, who passed away this season after a lifetime commitment to Joeys.

St. Joseph’s Boys will host its International Tournament – “The Hibernia Trophy” - on August 22-24 at their home of DNG Park in Sallynoggin.

Eight Elite Under-15 teams will participate including Charlton, Sunderland, Utrecht (Holland), Trelleborg (Sweden) and Izumo City (Japan), St. Joseph’s Boys, the DDSL and the FAI Development squad. For more details, long on to: www.hiberniatrophy.com.

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