“We’re a little disappointed as we should have probably won the game” - Whelehan
 
Experiencing his first competitive game in nearly ten months following a serious knee injury sustained against Shelbourne last May, centre-half Ben Whelehan made a welcome return to Dundalk’s team-sheet against the same opposition alongside captain Aidan Lynch on Friday night, with the towering defender putting in a solid and highly encouraging display.
 
The 27-year-old was to give Lilywhite fans and manager John Gill a huge scare late on when forced to retire through another injury, which first appeared to be to his knee, however, Whelehan, thankfully, had good news afterwards. “It’s not my knee,” Ben revealed to dundalkfc.com. “My knee is fine. It was just a pothole in the pitch, some big divot, my ankle went into it and twisted. Hopefully, I’ll be back in a week or so.”
 
Giving his thoughts on the result, Whelehan, who played a massive role in the team coming out with a clean-sheet, admitted: “I think, overall, we’re happy enough. We had ten men for most of the game, and then we finished with nine. We had the better chances in the match, their ‘keeper pulled off two great saves and we hit the crossbar, so we’re a little disappointed in that way as we should have probably won the game. Strangely, I think we played better with ten men in the second-half.
 
“As for the sending-off, I think Chris went in hard, won the ball, the player just went down on the ground, and the ref decided to send him off just because the Shelbourne players were around him moaning. It’s only the first game, there’s still another 35 games to go, but it’s a good point. It always takes you a couple of games to bed into the league and to sort out the other teams around you, so tonight is a nice result to begin the season with.”
 
Gill, meanwhile, was pleased that Whelehan’s injury was not as bad as first feared, and was expecting to have either Ben or right-back John Flanagan, who had to go off at the break due to a calf injury, back for Thursday night’s home clash with Monaghan United. “I was just afraid that it was Ben’s knee again, but thankfully it wasn’t. Hopefully, it will be okay. We’ll do a bit of pool work on Sunday, and between Ben and John, given time, I’d be hopeful that I’d get at least one of them back for Thursday.”