He was born in Ballyorgan in the Ballyhoura Mountains, on the borders of counties Limerick and Cork in Ireland, and grew up in nearby Glenosheen.

Joyce was a native Irish speaker who started his education at a hedge school.

In 1856 he was one of fifteen teachers selected to re-organize the national school system in Ireland.

His most enduring work is the pioneering The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places (first edition published in 1869).

Joyce's own hand of Echtra Cormaic itir Tairngiri agus Ceart Claíd Cormaic (Adventures of Cormac in the Land of Promise), a passage from the Book of Ballymote, which Joyce translated into English.