Wexford Youths F.C.

Wexford Youths
	Wexford Youths FC badge
Full name	Wexford Youths Football Club
Nickname(s)	Youths, Warriors
Founded	2007
Ground	Ferrycarrig Park
Capacity	2,500 (609 temp seats)
Chairman	Mick Wallace
Manager	Shane Keegan
League	League of Ireland; (Premier Division)
2015	First Division, 1st (promoted)
Website	Club home page
Home colours	Away colours

Wexford Youths Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Crossabeg, County Wexford. They compete in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club joined the league after being awarded a First Division licence for the 2007 League of Ireland season.^[1] The opportunity to join the League of Ireland arose as Dublin City became bankrupt before the end of the 2006 season, leaving an uneven number of clubs.^[2] The 2007 season coincided with the takeover of the running of the league by the FAI and all existing clubs had to apply for entry into what was effectively a new league.^[3] Limerick was the only existing club refused a licence and so Wexford Youths and Limerick 37 were admitted to the new league.^[4] The club alternate their colours between plain black and pink and black.^[5]

History

Wexford Youths were founded by developer and TD Mick Wallace, who has funded the construction of Ferrycarrig Park, a state-of-the-art complex for the new team at Crossabeg, near Wexford Town. Wallace managed the senior side for the first three seasons, as well as the under-21s, under-18s and under-16s. Before the start of the 2010 season, former Limerick FC manager and Wexford Youths assistant manager Noel O'Connor took the reins as manager of the senior squad.^[6] Pat Dolan acts as an advisor to Mick Wallace and while remaining on as Setanta Sports' anchorman for their live TV coverage of Irish domestic soccer.^[7]

Wexford Youths FC applied for a League of Ireland licence in December 2006,^[8] and were officially granted a First Division licence on 6 February 2007.^[1] The club has stated an intention to be a unique institution in Irish football in prioritising local players, and has only taken on players from the Wexford area.^[1]

Wexford Youths' first game was away to Monaghan United, on 9 March 2007, and ended in a 2–2 draw. The club's first scorer was Conor Sinnott.^[9] The first home match was on 18 March 2007, a 1–0 victory over Cobh Ramblers.^[10] Tom Elmes was the goal scorer. Wexford Youths first ever League of Ireland Cup fixture saw them play Waterford United at the RSC, Waterford. This game was the first competitive derby game for Wexford Youths against one of their local rivals, and saw Wexford beaten 3–0.^[11] The club's FAI Cup début arrived on 15 June 2007 with a trip to Jackman Park to face fellow league newcomers Limerick 37. The game produced a 1–1 draw and sent the tie to a replay,^[12] with Limerick 37 winning the replay 1–0.^[13]

Wexford Youths finished their first season in ninth place (out of ten) in the league, five points clear of bottom club Kilkenny City.^[14]

On 25 August 2008, the Youths achieved a famous victory in the League Cup semifinal, beating Cork City 1–0 at Turners Cross.^[15] However they lost out 6–1 to Derry City in the final at Ferrycarrig Park.^[16]

Wexford Youths finished the 2008 season in seventh place.^[17] The Youths rose a place in the 2009 season, finishing 6th out of an expanded 12 teams^[18]

Before the beginning of the 2010 season, the Youths' captain, crowd favourite and record goal-scorer Conor Sinnott transferred to St. Patrick's Athletic.^[19] Nevertheless, the club had some good fortune. During the 2010 season the Youths recorded their first ever home win over local rivals Waterford United,^[20] and followed this up with an away win against Shelbourne.^[21] More players parted ways with the Youths during the 2010 season, including record appearance holder Paul "Patsi" Malone, and the highly experienced defender David Breen. Both are former Supporters Player of the Year winners, in 2007 and 2009 respectively. The Youths had yet another very memorable night soon after their departure, when they enjoyed a 5–3 victory in the league over their tense rivals Limerick. Jimmy Keohane, Dean Broaders and Shane Dempsey scored for the Youths, before Limerick's Jeffrey Judge and former Youths player Peter White were both sent off for Limerick. To ascertain the victor, Limerick veteran Gary Sheahan scored the fifth goal for the Youths, to rapturous celebrations from the supporters at Ferrycarrig Park.^[22] July ended with the transfer of central midfielder Jimmy Keohane to Bristol City.^[23] The Youths once again scored 5 in a 5–2 away win at Mervue United, equalling their highest ever winning margin.^[24] Despite their high scoring season, they finished the first division in 7th place, just behind Cork City on 42 points.

Paul "Patsi" Malone returned to the Youths for the 2011 season, and later in the season Shane Dempsey returned to the club after a spell at Waterford United. However, record goalscorer Garry Sheahan returned to his native Limerick FC. The season yielded the Youths their worst points haul yet of 14, finishing second-last ahead of Salthill Devon due to a 5–2 home win against them on the very last day of the season, their only home league win in 2011.^[25] The year did produce one very notable result in favour of the Youths, a 4–1 home win against Derry City in the FAI Cup^[26]

In December 2011, Noel O'Connor ended his management of the club, replaced by former FC Carlow manager Shane Keegan. The club began the 2012 season with a record-shattering 6–0 win over their local rivals Waterford United. After a mildly successful 2012 season in which the club finished fourth out of eight teams with 39 points, the club lost Paul "Patsi" Malone to Bray Wanderers and all-time top-scorer Danny Furlong to Cork City for the start of the 2013 season.^[27]

In 2015 under Shane Keegan's management, the Youths won the First Division and promotion to the League of Ireland Premier Division for the first time in their history.

Colours and Badge

The club wears a black and white home strip in honour of Juventus.

The badge features the club motto 'Play the beautiful game' and the words 'Life's short, work hard, play hard', a motto used by Wallace Construction for many years, having previously been placed on the kits of Cork City when Wallace sponsored that club. The five stars above the badge represent the four under 18 FAI inter-league titles and 1 FAI youth cup won by Wexford teams managed by Wallace.

Stadium

Wexford Youths play at Ferrycarrig Park. It has a current seated capacity of just over 600 but plans are in place to extend this to over 2000.

Records

Most appearances for Wexford Youths FC

#	Name	Career	Appearances
1	Danny Furlong	2007–	141
2	Patsy Malone	2007–2011	129
3	Anthony Russell	2007–09	108
4	Conor Sinnott	2007–09	91
5	Gary Delaney	2012–	57

Most goals scored for Wexford Youths FC

#	Name	Career	Goals
1	Danny Furlong	2007–	83
2	Gavin Doyle	2007–2009	21
3	Garry Sheahan	2008–2010	19
4	Paul Malone	2007–2012	14
5	Tom Elmes	2007–2013	14

^[28]