Ben Whelehan interviewed by Keith Wallace
May 6th 2008.
BETWEEN A VOLUNTARY BREAK and an enforced absence, he has played very little football in the past two years. However, Ben Whelehan is now threatening a return to a prolonged period of play, and is aiming to repay Dundalk for their loyalty by shooting the club to promotion. Only back a short while after taking time out from the game, Ben sustained a serious knee injury against Shelbourne twelve months ago. However, his perseverance and dedication means he is now back in action and fighting fit.
Long Road
A lengthy road to recovery eventually saw Whelehan return in a friendly with Bray Wanderers last February – a comeback which came thanks to his compliance with medical advice. “You just do what you’re told,” Ben told the Dundalk FC Magazine. “If you don’t do it, you’re going to break down, and your career is going to be over. Whatever you’re told by the physio, doctor or surgeon, you just stick with that, and if you do, then you’re not going to go wrong. So, I just stuck with what I was told. It was a long road back, but you just get your physio, you look after yourself outside of football, you do your weight work, you do your gym work, and all that sort of stuff, and you just keep yourself as fit as you can. Nothing subsidises the running you do in training, but when you’re in the gym and you’re doing weights, or you’re doing a little bit of cycling or swimming, it helps.”
Coincidence?
The injury to Ben – who had helped the Oriel outfit to seven clean-sheets in his eleven appearances before disaster struck – coincided with Dundalk’s dip in form, as the Lilywhites went downhill having been early season trailblazers. And, the 28-year-old admits that it was tough watching from the stands as the side struggled. “It was very difficult,” he says, “especially when you feel that you could have made a difference to the team. If you had to be playing, you could have pushed players a little bit differently, so it was very hard sitting and watching on; especially when you just want to be out there.”
Lengthy Break
Indeed, Whelehan was no stranger to long breaks from football, having decided to quit the game for seven months following Dublin City’s death in July 2006 – citing work commitments as the reason. “It was just to do with work,” he states. “I was busy with work, and I just took a few months out and recharged my batteries. I had a few offers to go back, but none suited, and I just decided to take a break out of it. It was a long break. After a couple of months, I wanted to get back into it, but the transfer window was closed by that stage.”
Big Move
The Dubliner finally made a return to action in late January last year, as he renewed acquaintances with John Gill for the fourth time and joined up with Dundalk for pre-season training. “To come back to a club and to play football wasn’t difficult at all,” Ben states. “But after seven or eight months out, just trying to get back to fitness and getting your sharpness back was difficult, but we got there. It was a big move up here, and I enjoyed it, but, unfortunately, I only lasted eleven games last season. Hopefully, I’ll play a few more this time around, but we’ll see.”
Frustrating
Following another injury in the opening day draw at Shels this season, Whelehan lost his place in the team. He has recently regained that slot, however, he admits that he knows the displeasure for any player sitting on the sidelines. “It’s very, very frustrating sitting on the bench, especially when you think you should be out playing football and doing a job on the pitch. But, at the end of the day, it’s the manager who picks the team, so you just have to bite your tongue and get on with it.”
League Debut
Whelehan first broke onto the League of Ireland stage seven years ago when he signed for Kilkenny City, though his stay there lasted just a single season. “It was a good start for me,” the defender says. “I just wanted to get my foot on the ladder coming into the League of Ireland. I just wanted to do a year there, and then move back closer to Dublin. The season was grand – it went alright. I got a bit messed around towards the end of the season by the club and the committee, who really weren’t that nice a people. But it was good. There was never going to be much success there. It was just a whole new team thrown together a couple of weeks before the season, so we done well. I think we finished mid-table – we had some good results throughout the year, but there was never going to be big achievements there.”
Merry-go-round
Ben then followed Gill to Kildare County for their first year in the league. However, again, it was a short stint, as he departed at the end of the season to join newly promoted Dublin City. “Dermot Keely was the manager and Giller was the coach at Kildare,” he explains. “It was good. I really enjoyed my time there. It was better than Kilkenny. There was better players there, and I had a good time there. I was offered a new deal at Kildare at the end of the season, but I was offered a deal at Dublin City too, and they were in the Premier. They had just won the First Division, so it was a no-brainer.
Hard Times
“We went into the Premier Division, and it was starting to become more full-time. There was a lot of full-time players in it, and you’re already at a disadvantage with the amount of rest and all that they get. You do the same training as them, but the rest that they get is a lot better. They’re not up for work at six in the morning. It was a difficult year and a difficult time for all the players and management, but it was good. It was an experience. I didn’t think John (Gill) would leave when he did. I thought he would have stuck around, and stuck it out and see what happened, but it wasn’t to be. John felt he didn’t want to take money from a club that were at the bottom of the league, and he moved on.”
Collins Cull
Gill’s midseason resignation allowed Roddy Collins to enter the hotseat. However, Whelehan was amongst the players transfer-listed soon after, as the new boss culled much of the squad – something which Ben was delighted about. “Roddy came in and released fifteen of us or something like that in one morning, which was grand,” he states. “I didn’t really want to work with the man, to tell the truth. I was only there for a couple of weeks with him, and that was it. He took a few training sessions and done a few bits and pieces, but I wouldn’t say he done much regards results and that.”
Cup Run
Whelehan made the move to Waterford shortly after, and helped the Blues to fifth in the league, as well as leading them to an FAI Cup final meeting with Longford Town in October 2004. “I had a great time down there,” Ben admits. “We got to the FAI Cup final. Unfortunately, we lost to Longford, but at the end of it, we finished fifth in the league. We were the highest finishing part-time team in the Premier League that year, so it was quite good. The FAI Cup run was excellent. It was difficult. We had to play Rockmount in the quarter-finals twice. We had to go down to Cork on a Tuesday or Wednesday night and win down there, which was good. Then the semi-final up in Derry was great. We won 2-1 and I got ‘Man of the Match’ on the night.”
Final Blues
Sadly, the decider saw Waterford narrowly lose out as they threw away a 1-0 lead with just five minutes remaining. However, Ben admits that he enjoyed the experience. “It was good,” he says. “I think the final was the October Bank Holiday Sunday, and we all met in Dublin on the Saturday morning. We stayed in a hotel, trained in Lansdowne Road and done all our bits and pieces, and then left the next day for the game. Unfortunately, we lost, but we came back to the hotel and had a meal and all, so it was great. We should have won it. It was very disappointing that we gave away two goals when we shouldn’t have. People were complaining that there was two balls on the pitch, but I didn’t really see it – people should have just been marking their players, and that would have been it.”
Vikings Return
Whelehan then returned to Dublin City for their 2005 promotion push, and it proved a successful one as the Vikings defeated Shamrock Rovers in the playoff. However, he says that that move would never have come about had work not got in the way. “I was finding it difficult with work commitments and travelling, and that was the only reason I left Waterford,” Ben reveals. “If work wasn’t an issue, I probably would have stayed there, because it was a good club. I went back to Dublin City, and I had a good time there working with Dermot Keely again. We started off great, but Sligo Rovers were full-time, so they were always expected to win it. We pushed them as far as we could – we had a few sticky matches throughout the middle of the season – but we came back strongly towards the end. In the playoff against Rovers, we just wanted to win the game – it didn’t matter who the opposition was. Whether it was Rovers or anyone else, it didn’t really make a difference. We just had to win.”
Financial Meltdown
His spell there was to again end prematurely, however, as, in midseason the following year, chairman Ronan Seery announced that the club would cease trading with immediate effect. “The club were having financial difficulties,” Ben acknowledges. “I think we were in an okay position, and we would have finished a little bit better had the club stayed on for the year. We weren’t in danger of being relegated. The chairman was a really, really good man, and he took it as far as he could, but, unfortunately, the finances caught up with him. Everything was fine for the players; we were being paid constantly and the finances were grand, but then all of a sudden, it just went bang. They were an excellent club. Everything was done right for you; your gear, your wages, arrangements, organisation, everything. It was all good.”
