Keogh keen to develop at Wexford

When your form has hit rock bottom, there’s only one way to go; up. This would be the typical dressing room speech found at Ferrycarrig Park nowadays. For Karl Keogh, he just looks forward to another year of playing against the best opposition he can.
 

Keogh admitted that he had expected to sign for Wexford, and he has no issues with agreeing terms with the side, showing his loyalty. He said: “Obviously at the end of every season there's always a lot of uncertainty with players whether they will have a club next year and where they will be playing their football. Having played over thirty games for the Youths last year in my first full season in the League of Ireland, I feel I'm still improving, and playing against good players like Denis Behan and Graham Cummins every game, you learn something different.”

Leaving Wexford was never apparently an option for the young defender. In what was a quite a humble view, Keogh admitted he has “only really had one season in League of Ireland and is far from the finished article.” Karl was a prominent feature for Wexford last season and was always one of the first names down on Noel O’Connor’s team sheet.

“I played thirty games last season and I’m grateful to the club for giving me the chance, it’s just all about learning at my age; gaining the experience needed to becoming a good centre half in the league and making a career for yourself. I've seen players already this season younger than me after having a decent season maybe thinking they're better than they are; jumping ship and signing for bigger clubs where they won’t play half the games they've played at their previous club. In my opinion its stupid and doesn't help their development as a player and more than likely they will be unhappy not getting game time. Wexford Youths have been very good to me and I love the club so I just have to improve and work hard this season and repay for the fans for the support they've given me all through a very difficult season last year.”
 

Wexford will need to bring in new players in order to compete this season and given the recent appointment of Shane Keegan who departed the FC Carlow post to take the reins in the south-east,  will have his own ideas of who can improve the Youth’s squad. Karl agrees. “I expect new faces to arrive which will be great for the team as we lacked competition last year so hopefully new faces will bring competition to the squad. We met Shane before Christmas and he’s very organised so no doubt we will be a very difficult team to beat as from what I heard, Shane is a very tactical manager.  All the players are just eager to get back training now get the hard work in cause we underachieved last year and we've a lot to get done. “
 

In terms of personal goals, Keogh is somewhat reserved in setting targets for himself. His wishes for the season are more of a simple nature. “Personally, I just want to play week in week out and improve on last year. Obviously I've got to work hard as there will be competition for places this season but that's a good thing. It keeps players on their toes and doesn't allow for complacency. Hopefully I can help tighten up from last year and concede fewer goals and make us tougher to beat.”
 

Now, anyone who says Wexford would be capable of a top five finish this season after seeing them last year is either one of two things: foolish or highly optimistic. It seems to me, Karl had a sense of surprise about him, and I firmly believe based on his tone in which he talks about his new manager, Wexford may just surprise people this year. “I think we should be aiming to finish as high as possible. This year with the likes of Cork, Shelbourne and Monaghan promoted, the league won’t be that strong so with hard work good organisation and resilience I don't think top 5 is out of the question. It’s going to take a big effort but our lads owe it to everyone at the club the fans and Mick to make up for last year and work hard to achieve a high finish.”

The league has lost two of its glamour clubs in Shelbourne and Cork, but Karl Keogh states he has plenty of fixtures to look forward to. “This year I’ll be looking out for south-east derby against Waterford who I think will be a force this year. Limerick, who in my view they will run away with the league this year with the quality they have, will also be enjoyable and a standout fixture for me. We had two great one nil wins away to Waterford and Limerick last year so hopefully we can get results this year again.”

Wexford’s relegation fears may just be eased slightly by the seemingly inevitable introduction of teams from a lower division. Cobh Ramblers, Tralee Dynamos, FC Carlow and GUST FC have all applied for a First Division license, and perhaps their presence may ease their worries.  Keogh accepts this point, but knows places like Buckley Park and St. Colman’s Park are not easier to go to.


“Yeah of course it does, as they wont probably have the experience of playing in the First Division, but from playing in the A championship with Shamrock Rovers these are not easy places to go at all. Hopefully it will be a successful season personally and for Wexford Youths this season, as all the players are eager to do well this year.