His championship career as a dual player with the Dublin senior teams spanned twelve seasons from 1901 until 1912.
Raised on the family farm, Grace was educated locally before moving to Dublin in his teens to take up a position in the drapery trade with Todd, Burns & Co. After moving to Dublin, Grace joined the Kickhams club where he played both hurling and Gaelic football.
Grace was just eighteen-years-old when he made his debut on the inter-county scene as a member of the Dublin senior football team in the delayed 1901 championship.
Over the course of the next decade, he won five All-Ireland medals, beginning with back-to-back wins in 1901 and 1902, followed by three successive championships between 1906 and 1908.
Grace's brothers - Pierce and Dick - also had All-Ireland success in both codes with Kilkenny and Dublin.