Alan Bennett

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 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 that year, unfortunately injuries limited his appearances.

Cheltenham Town On 4 July 2011 Bennett joined Cheltenham Town 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 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 in the play-off semi-finals, but lose the play-off final to Crewe Alexandra, 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 also on 31 January 2013. The ability and experience Bennett brought to the AFC Wimbledon defence in the second half of the 2012–13 season helped "The Dons" avoid relegation from the Football League 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 both against Dundalk On 5 November 2017, Cork City captained by Bennett completed the league and cup double after defeating Dundalk 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, helping Ireland to a 1–1 draw. He then played in the following match against Bolivia, 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 League of Ireland Premier Division Champions: 2005, 2017 FAI Cup Champions: 2016, 2017

Brentford League Two Champions: 2008–09

Wycombe Wanderers League Two Automatic Promotion Winners: 2010–11