Dundalk received a massive boost to their 2008 promotion push on Thursday night as the visit of Bray Wanderers saw the welcome return of central defender Ben Whelehan to the Lilywhites line-up for the first time in nine months. Not since the twelfth game of last season has the towering 28-year-old played football, after he suffered a serious knee injury in the first-half of the 3-0 win over Shelbourne at Oriel Park on 24 May.
 
After a long road to recovery, Ben, carrying the captain’s armband, played the opening half of the defeat to Bray, and afterwards, he reported that he had felt no reaction after his first taste of action in exactly 38 weeks. “Everything feels fine,” Whelehan told dundalkfc.com. “It’s great to be back, I think it’s nine months now since I played - it’s a long time to be out. I’m a little tired and I’ll be a little stiff in the morning, but there’s no soreness in the knee or no reaction at all. I just need a bit more training and to get a few more sessions in. I haven’t really trained with the lads, I haven’t done anything in pre-season, just my own little runs, so to get back in and do the 45 minutes was great. We’ll do the gym now Saturday, train Tuesday, and hopefully then I’ll play more on Thursday night against Rovers.
 
“From getting back into it, I’m probably only a couple of weeks off. I look after myself outside of training, so I came back and I’m not overweight or anything. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be back and I’ll be flying. I went out and done the warm-up and was just seeing how I’d feel, and it was grand, no problem whatsoever; the twisting, the turning and the jumping was fine. I came off then at half-time - John didn’t want to risk another 15-20 minutes. We’ll just build it up gradually, and possibly do some more next week, but I’m happy to be back!”