On sets of irreducible polynomials closed by composition

Let $\mathcal{S}$ be a set of monic degree $2$ polynomials over a finite field and let $C$ be the compositional semigroup generated by $\mathcal{S}$. In this paper we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for $C$ to be consisting entirely of irreducible polynomials. The condition we deduce depends on the finite data encoded in a certain graph uniquely determined by the generating set $\mathcal{S}$. Using this machinery we are able both to show examples of semigroups of irreducible polynomials generated by two degree $2$ polynomials and to give some non-existence results for some of these sets in infinitely many prime fields satisfying certain arithmetic conditions.