Season Review 2020: Wexford

Team: Wexford FC

Head Coach: Brian Sullivan

Top Scorer: Karl Fitzsimons (4)

Stadium: Ferrycarrig Park

Highest Attendance: 218 v Galway United 6th March (One of only two games played at home in front of any crowd this season)

Lowest Attendance: 0

Star Player: Jack Doherty

Despite finishing bottom of the First Division, there were a few shining lights in the Wexford side and one the one that shone the brightest was Jack Doherty.

Wexford’s number 8 made his presence felt in a difficult season, putting in standout performances throughout the year, including the last game against Longford when he scored the winner in a 2-1 victory. 

Best Young Player: Tom Murphy



Many people may see this as a strange choice considering the amount of goals conceded by Wexford this season (-26 goal difference), but the extratime.com pick for best young player is goalkeeper Tom Murphy. 

A young ‘keeper, brought in from UCD, who was tested more often than not in nearly every game he played, never once bowed down to pressure.

In all the madness, that included an 8-0 loss to UCD, Murphy did keep two clean sheets this season, one against Galway United and another against Cabinteely. 

He also produced some fine saves, most notably during Wexford’s last game of the season – the win against Longford Town. At the age of 19, he is a child in goalkeeping terms and has shown enough to suggest he will carve a decent career in between the posts.

Best New Signing: Karl Fitzsimons

With new acquisitions a plenty at Wexford during the off season, none can compare to the signing of Karl Fitzsimons, who finished the clubs top goal-scorer with four goals. Arriving in January 2020, the midfielder brought with him experience having previously played with Longford Town and Athlone Town respectively.



His attacking edge made sure that Wexford had something to celebrate, most notably his brace in that shock away win against Cabinteely. He is definitely one to watch for next season. Will it be at Wexford or another club? Who knows, but with the performances he put in, others will be looking to bring him into their squad.

What we expected they would do:

Predicted by the extratime.com team that they would finish bottom of the pile, Wexford responded, finishing 10th out 10 in the First Division, although it was only by goal difference behind Athlone Town, so some might say joint 9th, but that would ruin our correct prediction stat, so 10th it is!

What they actually did:

SSE Airtricity League

As said previously, the club finished 10th In the League of Ireland First Division, but it wasn’t a total loss of a season. The club managed to keep two clean sheets and posted two memorable wins, one an away win against Cabinteely, beating them at Stradbrook 5-1, a result not even the most optimistic of Wexford fans could have predicted.

Their second win was on the last day of the season against Play-off finalists Longford Town, who they stunned at Ferrycarrig Park with a 2-1 win despite having nothing to play for with Longford still not sure of a final play-off place.

There were of course a lot of lows, with hammerings coming from UCD (8-0), Cobh Ramblers (4-0) and the two losses to Shamrock Rovers II side (both by 2-0 scorelines). 

FAI Cup

The FAI Cup didn’t bring much more joy either, with Wexford dropping out in the second round with a defeat to fellow First Division strugglers Athlone Town. The game itself was a cracker, going to extra-time with the sides level 3-3 after 90 minutes.

But Athlone went on to score two more goals, despite also going down to 10 men as well. 5-3 it ended and with it went Wexford’s chances of going on a cup run.

What they need to improve on for the next year

The good news about coming bottom of the league is there is only one way to go, and that is up. It will be an interesting off season for Wexford, with the application of another Wexford side coming in for the First Division. 

If they can keep some of their key players, like goalkeeper Tom Murphy, defender Dan Tobin and midfielders Jack Doherty and Karl Fitzsimons as well as adding more fire power up front, they may be able to move up the table.

They certainly have something about them, but can they be consistent and turn out performances like they had at Stradbrook ? That remains to be seen for next season.

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