‘I wanted to go out on my own terms’ – Kylie Murphy

IT’S all over, Graiguecullen native Kylie Murphy has played her final game for Wexford as their longstanding captain called time on an incredible career that has spanned 14 years and 332 caps. The 37 year old has been at the club from day one and has been captain ever since. She wasn’t going to go out quietly though, it’s not in her nature, she had to go out with a bang as she scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win against Cork City. It was just meant to be.

“No, I actually can’t believe that,” Kylie told the Laois Nationalist afterwards. “I couldn’t have asked for better. That was insane. I think the girls, literally every time we went forward, they were just looking for me. They just wanted me to score the hat-trick so badly.” She said it’s not sunk in yet that she’s played her final ever game for a club that she’s given the majority of her adult life to. “It’s probably not hit me yet. I’ll probably be quite upset next week. The off-season might be ok but when the girls go back in, I’ll probably feel it. It’s the end of an era but what a ride. I feel really special right now, I don’t think I realised the effect that I had on the club. It’s very overwhelming right now, but it’s strange to think I’ll never be wearing a Wexford jersey again.” Kylie received a guard of honour before the match from both teams. “I think everybody could see me crying coming out. It was very lovely from the girls. I didn’t want too big a fuss but for once they didn’t listen to me,” she laughed Wexford broke the news of Kylie’s retirement earlier this week, but the veteran said it’s been in her mind for a while, considering it at the end of last season after being frozen out by the management team at the time. She said it felt like the right time after a great season and her partner Essmay having recently given birth.

“I probably thought at the end of last season I was nearly done and then Sean and the boys came in and we had a really good meeting back in January. They made me feel that buzz about it again and I thought maybe I can do another year. I’d say probably midway through the season I kinda knew this is probably going to be it, we were expecting our little girl as well and family is so important too, and I just want to be there to see her grow up and I don’t want to miss anything. It just felt like it was the right time to go. I’m glad I came to that decision, I never wanted to be that player who kept going and going and people are looking on and thinking she needs to finish. I feel very grateful to go out on my own terms, I got to do it my own way.” Lauren Dwyer has been at the club with Kylie from day one and says the club won’t be the same without her.

“I don’t think people realise the impact that she has had on Wexford and the impact she’s had on people’s lives. She’s a trailblazer and I just can’t thank her enough, and I’m so sad to see her go. She’s a leader, she’s a player, she’s everything you could ask for in a captain, she looks out for you, she picks you up when you’re down. She’s the epitome of what you want in a captain.

“Nobody is going to be able to fill those shoes, the standard she has set from the very beginning, she has led by example, I don’t think you will find anyone to replicate what Kylie has done. She brings everything together, you see what she does on the pitch, think of that but ten times more, that’s what she does off the pitch for everyone and every part of the club, from the academy the whole way up, with the committee, everything, she’s just unbelievable.”