Wexford Football Club Women, formerly known as Wexford Youths Women, is an Irish association football club based in

Crossabeg Crossabeg or Crosabeg () is a small village in County Wexford, Ireland, just north of Wexford town. It contains The Forge Storytelling House, Foley's Pub, St Patrick, St Brigid and St Killian's Catholic church with adjoining cemetery and a prim ...

, County Wexford. It is the women's section of the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

club

Wexford FC Wexford ( ; archaic Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is li ...

. Their senior team plays in the Women's National League. In the course of women's football in Ireland, Wexford have steadily been one of the league's strongest teams. As Women's National League winners, they represented Ireland in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

in Poland in 2015, at home in Wexford in 2016, in Belfast in 2018 and in Lithuania in 2019

History

Women's National League

In 2011–12 Wexford Youths, together with

Peamount United Peamount United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Newcastle, South Dublin. The club is best known for its senior women's team, founder members and inaugural champions of the Women's National League in 2011–12. They ...

, Castlebar Celtic, Cork Women's F.C.,

Raheny United Raheny United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Raheny, Dublin. Raheny United was founded in 1994 following the amalgamation of Raheny Boys and Dunseedy United. In 2017–18 their senior men's team compete in the Prem ...

and

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

, became founder members of the Women's National League. Youths finished third in both

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

and 2013–14. In 2013–14 they also won their first trophy, the

WNL Cup The League of Ireland Women's Premier Division (; sponsor name SSE Airtricity League Women's Premier Division) is a professional women's association football league in Ireland, organised by the League of Ireland, which began play in the 2023 ...

, after defeating Castlebar Celtic 3–0 in the final at

Ferrycarrig Park Ferrycarrig Park has been the home of League of Ireland side Wexford Football Club since joining the league in 2007. The building works for the new stadium and facilities, at Newcastle, Crossabeg, have been ongoing since 2003. Spectator facil ...

. In 2014–15 Youths won their first Women's National League title after finishing two points clear of second placed

UCD Waves UCD Women's Soccer Club is an Irish association football club based in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is the women's association football team of University College Dublin. Founded in 1966, UCD are one of the oldest women's football clubs in the ...

. The 2015–16 season saw Youths win a treble. They started the season by winning the

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI Cup. Organised ...

for the first time. In the final at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...

they defeated Shelbourne Ladies 4–2 on penalties after a 2–2 draw. Shelbourne Ladies would be Youths main challengers throughout the season. The two sides met again in the

WNL Shield The League of Ireland Women's Premier Division (; sponsor name SSE Airtricity League Women's Premier Division) is a professional women's association football league in Ireland, organised by the League of Ireland, which began play in the 2023 ...

final, played at

, on 30 March 2016. Wexford Youths again emerged as winners with Edel Kennedy scoring in the 1–0 win. In the league itself, the two teams finished level on points before Wexford Youths retained the title after a play-off. Youths travelled to Galway W.F.C. on Sunday, 8 May knowing a victory would secure them the league title. However Youths dropped their first league points away from home and could only manage a 1–1 draw. Youths had a second chance to clinch the title when they played Shelbourne Ladies at

Tolka Park Tolka Park () is an Ireland, Irish association football ground located in the Northside Dublin, north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Irelan ...

on Wednesday, 11 May. However Shelbourne Ladies won 3–1 and as result finished level on points with Youths. This meant the title would be decided by a play-off for the first time. The play-off took place on Sunday, 22 May at

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium () is an List of association football stadiums in the Republic of Ireland, association football stadium in Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of ...

. It proved third time lucky for Wexford Youths as they finally secured the title with a 2–1 win. Shortly after guiding Youths to their second title, head coach Will Doyle announced he was resigning. In June 2016, Gary Hunt was named as the new senior women's team manager, having been a coach under Will Doyle for the previous two years. After one season in charge, Gary Hunt stepped down as manager of the club, replaced by former assistant manager Laura Heffernan. In 2017 Heffernan secured Wexford Youths Women their third WNL title in 4 years, stepping down at the end of the season. She was followed by Tom Elmes at the beginning of the 2018 Season. He guided the team to the treble that year and

qualification in 2019, The following year the team won the Senior cup in the Aviva stadium under Tom Elmes. Elmes departed in July 2021 to be appointed as Ireland's WU16 head coach and the Women's Senior team assistant coach to Vera Pauw. He was replaced by his assistant Stephen Quinn. In the season 2021 the team finished 3rd in the league and won the Women's Senior Cup under the leadership Of Stephen Quinn. Stephen Quinn departed the club mid-season in 2023 after an unsuccessful spell. The club appointed Hugh Strong as its new manager ahead of the 2024 season.

Players

Current squad

Former players

Republic of Ireland women's internationals

Wexford Youths in Europe

2015–16 UEFA Women's Champions League

After winning the 2014–15 Women's National League title, Wexford Youths qualified for

for the first time. They played in Group 7 and finished second after winning two out of three games. ---- ----

2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League

After winning the 2015–16 Women's National League title, Wexford Youths qualified for

for a second time. Wexford Youths have been announced as hosts of one of the group stage tournaments with games due to be played at both

and the

Waterford Regional Sports Centre The Waterford Regional Sports Centre (or simply, the RSC) is part of Waterford Corporation's Municipal sporting facilities and home to Waterford F.C. of the League of Ireland. Waterford moved to the newly opened RSC from their former home, ...

. ;Group 7

Honours

* Women's National League **''Winners'': 2014–15, 2015–16,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: 4 *

**''Winners'': 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021: 4 **''Runners-up'': 2016: 1 *

**''Winners'': 2013–14 1 **''Runners-up'': 2018, 2019: 2 *

**''Winners'': 2015–16, 2018 2

References

{{Women's National League (Ireland) Women's National League (Ireland) teams Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland

Women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...