one third of the American sibling boyband -- made a guest appearance at a Special Olympics sports club at Holy Child Community School in Sallynoggin.

Twenty private security men and ten gardai were on hand as dozens of emotional teens and tweens gathered to meet the star (20).

Joe revealed he is absolutely thrilled to be enjoying some down time here ahead of a sold-out gig alongside brothers Nick and Kevin in the O2 tonight.

Scrapped

"I'm very excited to be here. I love it. I'm having fun," he said.

But he expressed disappointment that his planned 5km charity run to raise awareness for the Special Olympics here was scrapped due to security and bad weather.

"We were going to do the run here in Dublin but it didn't work out this time, hopefully we can come back and do another run."

Super-fan Sophie Tallant from Sallynoggin was left "light-headed" after scoring a rare embrace with the singer.

"Oh my God, Joe Jonas just hugged me. He's so everything," she gushed.

"He is so good looking, really nice, really down to earth. These are tears of joy; it's the best day of my life."

The 17-year-old student said she was thrilled that today's school strike means she was able to start queuing for tonight's concert at 9am in a bid to be first in line.

Despite having a string of high profile past romances and being a regular at Hollywood's hottest bashes, Joe said he felt incredibly at home in the quiet South Dublin suburb.

"It actually kind of reminds me of where we grew up; we grew up in New Jersey and the weather was always kinda cloudy and raining. I bought this big sweater two days ago and it's been working ever since."

The "Jo-bro" was also impressed by Irish fans after meeting players from the Blackrock Flyers basketball team and being mobbed at their training session. "They are so sweet and their accents are great. They are very sweet and polite; I think this is going to be a great crowd."

Cinema

The brothers, who are staying in the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge, have been enjoying a low key visit but were spotted on a cinema trip to see New Moon in Dundrum yesterday.

Kian Hennessey (10), from Sallynoggin, was among the few boys to turn out to see the singer but said: "Joe is my favourite. He's a great musician."

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- Aoife Anderson