Kylie Murphy on her 200th Wexford Youths cap: 'The more I think about it, it's amazing.'

Kylie Murphy still leads Wexford Youths after 200 appearances. Picture: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Kylie Murphy still isn't sure who added up the numbers but her money is on Eddie Cullen.

Kitman with the Wexford Youths womens' side, Cullen is one of those club stalwarts who has filled any number of roles, official and otherwise. 

Whoever realised it, it was team manager Tom Elmes who told Murphy that today’s game against Galway WFC would be her 200th for the club.

“I can't believe it,” Murphy said. “The more I think about it, it's amazing.” Context only adds to the achievement. 

Suspended for the 2016 FAI Cup final defeat to Shelbourne, there was the bones of a season lost to a back injury near the start of her time with the club and it almost ended her career at the age of 23.

The pain was so acute that a surgeon suggested she might have to hang up her boots but she can pause Now for a half-hour a few days out from making her double century and cast her mind back to her first game and the club's bow in the inaugural Women's National League season.

“It was a 2-2 draw with Castlebar. We missed a penalty towards the end of the game. Sarah O'Brien. She played with us that first year and went away to the States not long after. God, when you think of the pitches back then and the jerseys were swinging on us...” 

More incredible than her appearance record is the fact that Murphy was captain that first day and still wears the armband now. 

She has done so through every change of manager, combining talent and leadership in the club's journey from there to here.

Started to Lift

And what a journey.

The Peamount Uniteds and Rahenys had been operating long before the league started in 2011. Youths were cobbled together, mostly with players from Wexford and Waterford, and that first game against Castlebar was followed by a 7-0 loss to Peamount.

“We really did start at the bottom,” Murphy recalled. “I remember when the league was kicking off there were reports saying that Wexford were going to be the butt of the league and we weren't going to amount to anything. I remember all those articles.

“I remember as well after Peamount beat us 7-0, their manager in an online interview saying they thought they were far better and they should have scored a lot more goals. That stuck with us and it was used as adrenaline. The next time we played them we won 2-1 up there.

That win was where it all started to lift. It was like lifting the National League trophy. We had just literally formed a new team and been hockeyed. Peamount had just been playing in the Champions League. The players they had on the team were unbelievable in fairness to them.

The nine years since have brought three WNL titles and four FAI Cup successes. 

Picking out a favourite day in the jersey doesn't come easy but Murphy opts for the first league title and the game in Belfast two years ago when they faced Ajax in the Champions League.

She will be 32 at the end of this month and was mulling over this being her last season until the pandemic struck and she was faced with the reality of life without football. This is a woman whose medals hang on the end of her bed. No, she's not done yet.

Elmes has been vocal lately in pressing her case for a belated call-up to the senior Republic of Ireland squad. The Wexford boss has this week lauded her cool head, defensive work, range of passing and positional sense. Still so much to give.

Murphy was one of the best players on the pitch again last November when Wexford defeated Peamount United in the FAI Cup final and she has carried that through the shutdown and into a fledgling season where another league title is the stated aim.

“I'm all or nothing,” she said. “When I stop contributing on the pitch to the team, that might be the day I stop. Or when my legs start to give in and slow down. At the moment I've never felt as fit in my life.”