Wexford Youths Womens AFC Prepare for National League
The newly formed Wexford Youth Womens AFC will open their Bus Eireann National League campign with a home match in Ferrycarrig Park against Castlebar Celtic on Sunday November 13th. This new club is an extension of the Wexford Womens and Schoolgirls League and will be playing under the banner of Wexford Youths Womens AFC and will give the elite players within the league an opportunity to play at the highest level in the country. Several well known people from within the game in the county are involved with John Flood been given the responsibility of the day to day management of the team with John Michael Porter taking on the role of Director of Football. Well known coach Jack Stafford has been appointed as head coach and is ably assisted by Will Doyle, Tom Elmes as well as student coach Dylan Mernagh while John Floods management team consistes of Lizzie Kent, Billy Donnelly and Bobby Murphy. Nigel Fitzharris is team physio who also brings a wealth of League of Ireland experience with him. Other people who have assisted by scouting players are Brendan Kehoe, Barry O Neill, John Webster, Martin O Connor, Freddie Robinson and Peter Jacob. All these people are backed by a strong administrative team that include Daire Doyle (Chairman) Ashling Kavanagh (Finance) Peter Doyle (Media and Commercial) Deirdre O Connor (Marketing) and Emma English Byrne (Administrator). The remainder of the Wexford Womens League committee are also on board in other various roles such as youth development, child protection and promotion so it is a busy time ahead for all individulals involved. Barry Dempsey and Aine Murphy are heavily involved in the League Training Centre which is the first step for players who have ambitions of playing National League and International. Martin Cahill, Tom Dunne and Jenny McLoughlin are all involved at ground level and will be available to carry out various duties while Elayne Grant is Child Protection Officer. The time that have been voluntarily put into this project to date by these people is exceptional and the club would not be where it is now but for the efforts of all committee, managers, coaches and volunteers alike and for that they must be thanked. This is the first year of the National Womens League in the country and the decision was taken by the league to apply for a place to give the elite players within the league and surrounding areas an opportunity to play at the highest level available and to increase the players chances of being selected for International duty. Twenty six clubs originally applied for a licence to participate and after a long process, this was eventually broken down to seven who passed the criteria and a week before the launch, one of those clubs decided to withdraw. Last Thursday saw the official launch of the league in the Aviva Stadium with the announcement of the fixtures for the coming season with Wexford delighted to be at home in the first match against Castlebar. This will be followed by an away match to Peamount United who will still be on a high from their exploits in the Champions League where they reached the last thirty two. A week later Wexford will travel to Tallaght to take on Shamrock Rovers, a club who are taking this league very seriously and the following week will see Wexford host Raheny United in Ferrycarrig before rounding off the first round of fixtures away to Cork Womens League. The teams will play each other three times, giving a total of fifteen games, with the league ending in May 2012 and the winners qualifying for next years Womens Champions League. As the biggest Schoolgirls league in the country and second biggest Womens league, it is hoped that this new venture will be supported in numbers as several players on the squad have progressed through the league at some stage in their careers to date. We will give a full run down of the players on the squad next week as well as details of the upcoming opening fixture.
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