The FAI Cup final has a subplot that comes straight out of Sallynoggin. Not so long ago St Joseph’s AFC, known across the Irish football landscape as ‘Joeys’, produced a team of rare individual quality.
On Sunday, when St Patrick’s Athletic meet Bohemians at the Aviva Stadium, two 23-year-olds will collide in and around the Pat’s goalmouth. Joe Redmond will be doing the policing, having evolved into the League of Ireland’s premier centre-halves since returning from Birmingham City, where he grew up alongside Jude Bellingham.
Jonathan Afolabi offers the ultimate challenge for Redmond. Two muscular men these days, they first met as boys in Pearse Park.
“We were together for three years at Joeys,” said the St Pat’s skipper. “We had a good team with good players. I’d still kept in contact with Jonny, until this final I put texting to one side. I’m looking forward to the battle with him on Sunday. He’s shown this year how good he can be. As a player, that’s something you want to embrace.”
Afolabi finished this season as joint top goalscorer in the league with Shelbourne’s Jack Moylan, bagging 15 goals since arriving from Glasgow Celtic, having initially signed for Southampton in 2018.
“Ever since we were young, Joe’s always been professional and wanted to be a leader,” said Afolabi.
“He was captain of that team we were involved in way back when, and we won a few trophies. He was pivotal to us and you could see he was going somewhere. We went our separate ways, with him going to Birmingham and I went to Southampton but I knew he would definitely make a name for himself.
“The last couple of seasons he has been a leader for Pat’s and very important to the team and how they play. If they keep a clean sheet he is central to that, so I’ll need to be on top of my game to get change out of him.”
On a team that also included Andy Lyons and Promise Omochere, Redmond only remembers Joeys losing once, albeit to St Francis on penalties in the All-Ireland final.
“Other than that we won absolutely everything – leagues, All-Irelands. We went on those trips to England and had a great side. Most of us ended up going away and what happened there happened. You could tell the team was special. With the way we played and beat teams, it wasn’t just a normal schoolboy game. We were well drilled at Joeys. Looking back, we had great days.”
And what of Redmond’s career briefly overlapping with Real Madrid’s current number five?
“I was 15 and he was 12. I remember being told, ‘That’s Jude, he’ll become the youngest ever Birmingham City player’ but he was only a dot.
“You wonder how do they know he’d be that good, but they knew. He came up to the under-18s at 14 or 15 when I was still playing. He made lads look silly by flying around. He wasn’t that physical then, relying on his technical ability, but look at now. He’s physical, technical and can do it all.
“In Ireland, you play a year up from your own age-group but he was four years ahead and you’re thinking ‘how far can he go?’ He bounced into the first team and everything he touched . . . he scored on his debut; his league, England under-21 and senior debuts. Every debut he scored and it’s like someone has him on a PlayStation controller.
“Anything he does, I say fair play because he’s such a nice fellah. I still text him and he’d always reply and say ‘thanks’ or ‘well done’. A player of that stature now doesn’t have to talk to anyone.”
Bellingham dominated the most recent Clásico in Barcelona, scoring twice in a 2-1 victory for Real Madrid. Redmond was watching.
“He can do what he wants.”
To leap from Bellingham to Mason Melia, the 16-year-old St Pat’s striker who could come off the bench on Sunday, is unfair, but Redmond has no issues talking up his teenage team-mate.
“In the last two or three months you’ve seen such a maturity in the way Mason is starting to train and play. When he first came in, it was like he hadn’t grown into his body yet and he wasn’t able to use his arms and all.
“The past two or three months, the way he is striking the ball, his presence, he is going to be a great, great player, hopefully for us as long as possible. But wherever he can go and the standard he wants to get to, he’s got a lot going for him.
“You just need to keep the right mind frame, because football changes so quickly. You speak about lads going over and coming back all the time. It’s just important for him to stay on top of himself and not get too carried away, and enjoy it but work as hard as you can.”
