Wexford FC stars honoured
Media Officer McCarthy puts on polished virtual show
WHILE THE Wexford FC end-of-season awards night is usually a chance for the whole club to get together and reflect on the past campaign, 2020 and its challenges didn’t allow for the usual festivities, so Media Officer Ronan McCarthy took it upon himself to create a polished virtual experience in its place.
It was a great way for McCarthy to close out his year of highly influential work off the field, with the quality of live streaming and highlights going through the roof under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Wexford FC and Wexford Youths games available to view around the world.
It therefore came as little surprise that, one year after workhorse media team member Anthony Cooper was named club person of the year, McCarthy followed suit as the winner of the 2020 award.
The show itself started with Under-13 boss Mark Ralph reflecting on the season with great satisfaction about how his side progressed throughout the campaign, while also expressing his disappointment that they didn’t get to finish it out.
The good thing for Ralph and his charges is that, with the Under-13 league set to move to Under-14 in 2021, he will keep his team together and have another go at it when action gets under way in the spring.
Ralph named the first winner of the night, goalkeeper Haydon McCarthy, as the Under-13 player of the year, citing not only his excellent performances but also his attitude as a vital part of his list of qualities.
Haydon came off as confident in his interview as he does between the posts, expressing the enjoyment he has had playing at great venues across the country.
Under-15 manager Jason Goodison was next to talk about his charges, announcing that Jesse Dempsey, Niall Mooney and Aaron Murray were the three nominees for the Under-15 player of the year award.
Goodison said any one of seven or eight lads could have made the shortlist from the Under-15 team. The players themselves voted on the winner from the shortlist, and Wexford town lad Dempsey was announced as the recipient.
In conversation with McCarthy about the upcoming 2021 season, Goodison stated they will use their 2020 Under-14 development squad, which was created in the summer, to fill much of the void left by the Under-13s who won’t now be available because of the change in league structure.
Outgoing Under-17 manager Mark Doran expressed his joy at being part of Wexford FC for the last three seasons before introducing Patryk Remiasz, Mikey Raggett and Kyle Cooke as the three nominees for the Under-17 player of the year award.
He said he was disappointed with how the season went as a whole, given his success with the group at Under-15 level previously, but felt they were badly hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Doran named Mikey Raggett as the winner of the Under-17 player of the year, describing him as the most improved member of his squad in the last few years.
Wexford Youths Under-17 women’s manager Alan Browne talked to Anthony Cooper about the season for the club. The nominees for Under-17 women’s player of the year were Seren Ward, Jean Kavanagh-Doyle and Aimee Bates-Crosbie.
Captain Seren Ward got the gong after a vote by the players, with Browne recognising the winner as the driving force behind the side both on and off the field. He said it was fitting that the players chose her as the POTY.
Siún Murdiff received the award for the Wexford FC/Wexford Youths under-age goal of the season for her strike against Greystones.
Browne talked about the introduction of the Under-19 league in 2021, stating how important it would be to bridge the gap between the Under-17s and the Senior women’s team, given the huge step up in quality between the leagues.
Men’s Under-19 manager James Quinn said that while results were disappointing, he viewed the season as a massive success, with five members of his squad promoted to the Wexford FC first team set-up.
Donal Porter, Paudie Casey and Nikolas Leonard were the three nominees for the Under-19 player of the season, with Quinn announcing Casey as the winner. Quinn described the winner as ‘his robot’, because he does exactly what he’s asked to do, to an extremely high level.
Brian O’Sullivan talked about the first team’s season, citing hurdles that were in their way that contributed to their finishing position at the bottom of the Division 1 table. Tom Murphy, Jack Doherty and Karl Fitzsimons were the three nominees for the Senior player of the year.
Ronan McCarthy announced the result of the public vote, with the gong going to goalkeeper Tom Murphy. O’Sullivan said Murphy got better and better as the season went on, acknowledging that he was overworked at times between the sticks.
O’Sullivan said he wants to build on last season and progress in the campaign ahead. He talked about the positive of garnering more points through two rounds of games in 2020 than his side did in the three rounds of the 2019 campaign.
Talking to Ronan McCarthy, Tom Murphy was delighted to receive the award, stating that it was the first time he’s ever won a player of the year gong. He said the season was great for him, despite the results, since he was able to learn and grow into the role of first team ’keeper.
Tom Elmes reflected on a difficult season for the Wexford Youths women, claiming they were more competitive overall this term. He highlighted the need for experience in the squad, saying the three nominees for POTY epitomised that.
The nominees for the women’s Senior player of the year award were Kylie Murphy, Ciara Rossiter and Nicola Sinnott. Again it was decided by public vote, with Rossiter taking the gong after a great season.
Elmes expressed a desire for the team to be ‘as competitive as they can’ while they continue to introduce young players, a marked step back from the message at the end of previous seasons about the goal being to win the title.
The final award of the programme was Senior goal of the season. It brought together a mixture of goals scored by the men’s and women’s sides, and it was won by Ellen Molloy for her thunderbolt left-foot effort against Galway.