Alan John Bennett (born 4 October 1981) is an Irish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender. He has represented the Republic of Ireland national team.

Club career

Cork City

Bennett was born in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Republic of Ireland on 4 October 1981. He began his footballing career at his local club Richmond, based in

Waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, which competes in the West Cork League. He was coached by highly regarded coach Colm Donovan. Bennett subsequently joined

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

club

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

in 2000 at the age of 18. He initially played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, but was converted to the defensive role of centre-back during the 2004 season. He made more than 150 appearances for the "Rebel Army", scoring ten goals. During his time at Cork City, Bennett played in The UEFA Cup and Champions league and also won a

FAI Youth Cup The FAI Youth Cup, also known as the FAI Umbro Youth Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organised by the FAI for youth association football clubs and teams in the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Greenmount Rangers. The competi ...

medal in 2000, National league Medal in 2005 and 3 Munster Senior Cup medals.

Reading

Following several bids, Bennett joined Reading on a two and a half-year contract for an undisclosed fee thought to be £250,000 on 30 January 2007. On 31 July 2007, he was loaned for six months to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and made his debut during a home defeat to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. He returned to Reading in January 2008. On 7 March 2008, he joined

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on loan during this time Bennett scored his first goal in English football against Bradford City. On 28 July 2008, Bennett was told that he did not feature in Reading's plans and was told to find a new club. He began a second loan spell at Brentford on 8 August 2008, initially for one month, although this was extended to five months on 31 August 2008, following Man-of-the-Match performances against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

. His loan was then extended for a third time until the end of the 2008–09 season. Bennett appeared in over 50 games for Brentford in the 2008–09 season and assumed the role of

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

in the absence of regular captain Kevin O'Connor. As O'Connor was out for the match that decided if they won the league or not Bennett was made captain and lifted the

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

trophy after a 3–1 victory over

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. Bennett scored the opening goal in this fixture. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Bennett was released by Reading.

Brentford

He signed a permanent contract with Brentford on 30 July 2009 which was set to run until June 2011 and was appointed club captain. On 16 February 2010 Bennett joined

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

on a one-month emergency loan. He returned to Brentford at the end of the loan period because of the Bees' lack of defensive cover, but signed a new loan deal with Wycombe until the end of the season on 25 March 2010. One week later, before he had made any further appearances for the club, he sustained an ankle injury that looked to have ruled him out for the rest of the season and he returned to Brentford for treatment. However, he recovered quicker than expected and returned to training at Wycombe in late April. He returned to the team for the final game of the season against Gillingham, scoring his first goal for the club during this match.

Wycombe Wanderers

On 23 July 2010 Bennett joined Wycombe Wanderers on a permanent one-year contract. Bennett was part of the Wycombe squad that achieved automatic promotion to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

that year, unfortunately injuries limited his appearances.

Cheltenham Town

On 4 July 2011 Bennett joined

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

on a one-year contract. Bennett was made captain of Cheltenham by manager Mark Yates shortly after his arrival. Bennett formed an excellent defensive partnership with Steve Elliott that saw Cheltenham spend much of the season chasing automatic promotion. Bennett played a big part in Cheltenham reaching the 3rd round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

which drew them away to Tottenham Hostspur. They went on to lose 3–0; however, the game will go down as one of the biggest days in the club's history. Cheltenham's form suffered after the FA Cup game but they still managed to seal a League Two play-off position under Bennett's captaincy. Cheltenham went on to beat

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

in the play-off semi-finals, but lose the play-off final to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

, thus confirming another season in League Two. On 31 January 2013, Bennett left Cheltenham after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

AFC Wimbledon

Following his contract termination, he signed for fellow League Two team

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

also on 31 January 2013. The ability and experience Bennett brought to the AFC Wimbledon defence in the second half of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season helped "The Dons" avoid relegation from the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and remain a League Two team for a third successive season.

Cork City

On 6 February 2015, Bennett returned to his home-town club, Cork City He scored City's first goal in European Competition since 2007 in their opening game against KR Reykjavik on 2 July 2015. On his return he has won the 2016 Presidents Cup and the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

both against

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

On 5 November 2017, Cork City captained by Bennett completed the league and cup double after defeating

in the 2017 FAI Cup Final. Bennett announced his retirement on 10 November 2020.

International career

Bennett received a call up for the Republic of Ireland under–21 team in 2001. In 2007 Bennett was called up to the Ireland 'B' squad for a game against Scotland 'B' in Airdrie. In May 2007, he was called up to the full Republic of Ireland team for their two match trip to the United States. Bennett played the full 90 minutes against

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, helping Ireland to a 1–1 draw. He then played in the following match against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, which also ended 1–1, during which he made a saving tackle to keep the Bolivian team from going ahead.

Career statistics

Honours

;Cork City *

Champions:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Champions:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

;Brentford *

Champions: 2008–09 ;Wycombe Wanderers *

Automatic Promotion Winners:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Alan 1981 births Living people Association footballers from Cork (city) Association football defenders Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland B international footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Expatriate footballers in England Cork City F.C. players Reading F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players League of Ireland players English Football League players People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork