Early years

Wexford had one of the greatest football teams in the history of the GAA in the 1910s, winning six consecutive Leinster Senior Football Championship (SFC) titles; it was also the first team to win four consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) titles.^[5] 1900 star James 'the Bull' Roche, who had fought for the World heavyweight boxing championship, trained that team, which featured Fr Ned Wheeler, Aidan Doyle and the O'Kennedy brothers, Gus and Seán, as players. The latter was the team captain. The feat of six consecutive Leinster SFC titles was only equalled in 1931, when Kildare won the sixth in a sequence that had begun in 1926.^[6]

Wexford's last major football success was winning the Leinster SFC title in 1945. From then on, the game of hurling took precedence in Wexford and as a consequence the fate of the Wexford footballers was to descend into obscurity for many decades.

Recent years

Following a 1999 National Football League game between Cavan and Wexford at Breffni Park, the Wexford manager Jo Jo Barrett assaulted referee Mick Curley and received a two-year ban.^[7][8]

Wexford reached the 2005 National Football League final under the management of Pat Roe, but lost to Armagh. That game was notable for a request for payment attributed to Roe appearing in the minutes of a Wexford County Board meeting; Roe, it was alleged in the minutes, had asked in advance of that game for a €5,000 bonus if Wexford defeated Armagh, whilst €3,000 would suffice in the event of a loss.^[9]

In manager Jason Ryan's first year in charge, Wexford defeated Fermanagh to win the 2008 National Football League Division 3 final in April of that year. This proved to be but the first success in what would be a historic year for Wexford football, as the team reached a first Leinster SFC final for more than 50 years. Along the way Wexford defeated Meath (recovering from a ten-point deficit to win the quarter-final, held at Dr Cullen Park in Carlow) and followed this with a comprehensive defeat of Laois in the Leinster SFC semi-final. This was Wexford's fifth consecutive appearance in a provincial semi-final, but the team's first victory. The final, however, was lost to Dublin, by a scoreline of 3–23 to 0–09. Wexford recovered from this defeat and advanced through the All-Ireland Series, unexpectedly defeating Down by seven points to reach the 2008 All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals. Armagh was the opponent in that game and Wexford secured another unexpected result, winning the game by a scoreline of 1–14 to 0–12 to reach a first All-Ireland SFC semi-final since 1945.^[10] Tyrone defeated Wexford by six points in that game, though the team was within two points of the competition's eventual winner as the match concluded.^[11]

Wexford again reached the final in the 2011 Leinster Senior Football Championship. That year the team had an easier run of fixtures to the final than in 2008, facing Offaly, Westmeath and Carlow. The final was again versus Dublin. A poor performance from Dublin's star player, Bernard Brogan, assisted Wexford's efforts to stay close to Dublin's score throughout the match; however, a bizarre own goal contributed to a loss — by a scoreline of 2–12 to 1–12 — to the team that would later win that year's All-Ireland SFC title.^[12][13] Wexford advanced Round 4 of the 2011 All-Ireland SFC qualifiers where the team faced Limerick. Wexford sustained a single-point loss, by a scoreline of 1–18 to 1–17.

Paul Galvin briefly managed Wexford during 2019 and 2020 before moving away mid-season while play was halted amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games; his selector Shane Roche was appointed on an interim basis.^[14] Galvin's tenure involved most (but not all) of the 2020 National Football League campaign; he never actually managed Wexford in a championship game.^[15]

Notable players

Records

• Mattie Forde is the team's top scorer in National Football League history and finished his career fourth in the all-time list (one point behind Offaly's Tony McTague). As of 2021, David Tubridy of Clare had pushed Forde into fifth place and Conor McManus of Monaghan was three points behind Forde (McManus was still involved and his team had a relegation play-off at the time this record was published).^[43]

Top scorers

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2022)

• John Hegarty scored 21–125 while playing for Wexford between 1995 and 2006.^[44]

Most appearances

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (March 2021)

• David Murphy played for Wexford until 2013, when he retired with 180 caps, making him his county's most experienced player of all-time.^[45]

• John Hegarty made 105 appearances between 1995 and 2006.^[46]

All Stars

Wexford has one All Star.

Team sponsorship

Zurich Insurance Group sponsored the team on a four-year deal from 2020, following an announcement in October 2019.^[49]

National

• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
  • Winners (5): 1893, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918
  • Runners-up (3): 1890, 1913, 1914
• National Football League
  • Runners-up (3): 1937–38, 1945–46, 2005
• Tailteann Cup
  • Quarter-finalists (1): 2023
• Tommy Murphy Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2005
• All-Ireland Junior Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 1992

Provincial

• Leinster Senior Football Championship
  • Winners (10): 1890, 1893, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1925, 1945
  • Runners-up (16): 1888, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1901, 1902, 1924, 1926, 1932, 1933, 1939, 1948, 1953, 1956, 2008, 2011
• Leinster Junior Football Championship
  • Winners (8): 1911, 1963, 1984, 1992, 2000, 2007,^{[citation needed]} 2015,^[50] 2016^[51]
• Leinster Under-21 Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 2011^[52]
  • Runners-up (4): 1968, 1974, 1988, 2008
• Leinster Minor Football Championship
  • Winners (3): 1937, 1950, 1969
  • Runners-up (7): 1931, 1936, 1941, 1945, 1978, 1994, 1999