AFTER FINALLY GETTING his hands on that elusive FAI Cup last month, Alan Bennett has been winding down during the off-season.
It was third time lucky for the Cork City stalwart — having lost out in the 2005 and 2015 finals — as Sean Maguire’s extra-time winner against Dundalk saw the trophy head back to Leeside.
Bennett, who has been named SSE Airtricity League/SWAI Player of the Month for November, was understandably emotional on the Aviva Stadium pitch after the final whistle and admits he would’ve genuinely struggled to take another defeat in the domestic season finale.
“I definitely needed it,” Bennett said. “It was my third final and I’d lost two. I couldn’t go through the process of losing another and then having to come back for next season.
“I had to win the game or I could have done something knee-jerk after the game. Who knows. For the club and for John (Caulfield) it was great to win something meaningful and it has re-energised everyone at the club.
“I have a few schools visits coming up and it’s good to be coming back to that. When your contract is up as a player that’s your last pay-day. You have to get back in work straight away and if it’s not as a player then I want to be as ready as possible for anything else.
“I’m not for one second saying Cork should line anything up for me, football doesn’t work like that, but I’m doing the coaching badges and hopefully that will help prepare me for what’s next.”
Ending the campaign on a high has been good for the Cork native and he was back in London this week with his fiancée, who he is set to marry in a couple of weeks.
Bennett enjoyed two years at Brentford (first on loan from Reading before making a permanent move) and, with one eye on the future, visited former team-mate and current the Championship club’s current B team coach Kevin O’Connor.
“I met up with Kevin for a chat and to see how things are done there,” he explains. “I’m actually going to go on the Uefa Elite A coaching course soon as I just finished my Uefa A Licence, so it’s ironic that I went to Brentford and they’ve just scrapped their whole academy.
“It’s interesting that they’ve decided to do that at Brentford whereas in the League of Ireland now there is definitely more of an emphasis now on getting the academy systems in place. And it’s about time, too. It should have been happening 20-30 years ago but it’s great that it’s happening now.”
At 35, it’s understandable that the defender is beginning to plan for life after his playing career but there is no doubt he will be returning for the Leesiders in 2017 as his current contract runs up to the end of next season.
He adds: “It is something we have been discussing about what happens next but I still have one more season and as long as I’m contributing and I feel okay we’ll see what happens. I’ll have a chat with John I’m sure.”
The recent silverware has given the club and all those involved an additional boost and Caulfield is busy recruiting fresh blood with French striker Achille Campion joining from Sligo Rovers and Conor McCormack coming in after a spell with Derry City.
There are also high hopes that a number of Cork’s U19s team can join the likes of Chiedozie Ogbene by breaking into the senior squad after their exploits in the Uefa Youth League.
They may not be the only ones intent on getting business done early as the likes of Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic have announced several new signings over the past couple of weeks, but there is no reason to look past Cork and Dundalk battling it out for the title once again.
“For the fans, for media, it’s great to have us both pushing and it is a genuine rivalry,” says Bennett. “I’d like to think there is a healthy amount of mutual respect there, too.
“We have got to keep upping our own game because Dundalk are only going to get better. I was just thinking about the President’s Cup the other day and that got me going again. I went to the gym straight away because of that.”
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