Chris Bennion (born 30 August 1980, in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former football player. He is currently 1st team Goalkeeping coach with Bohemian Football Club.

Football career

Chris Bennion is a former professional goalkeeper, currently head goal keeping coach at league of Ireland club Bohemian. He began his career with Edinburgh Celtic as a youth and later joined the youth set up at Heart of Midlothian. In 1997, he joined English side Middlesbrough but made just one first team appearance and was loaned out to Scunthorpe United during his time at the

Riverside Stadium The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since its opening in 1995. It has an all-seated capacity of 34,742, although provisional planning permission is in place to expan ...

. In 2002, he signed for

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

side Shelbourne but was second choice keeper at

Tolka Park Tolka Park () is an Ireland, Irish association football ground located in the Northside Dublin, north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Irelan ...

. In 2004, he signed for Dundalk. He is a Scottish former schoolboys' international.

Middlesbrough

Bennion signed for Middlesbrough in 1997 and signed professional contract in 1999. However, he made just one first team appearance in September 2000 against

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an association football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and from 1891 played home games at Moss Rose. It competed in the short ...

in the first leg of the League Cup Second Round. Middlesbrough won the game 2–1 thanks to two late goals from

Noel Whelan Noel David Whelan (; born 30 December 1974) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and radio co-commentator. As a player, he was a striker (association football), striker who notably played in the Premier League for Leeds ...

and

Mark Summerbell Mark Summerbell (born 30 October 1976) is an English football midfielder. He has played for Middlesbrough, Cork City, Bristol City, Portsmouth and Carlisle United. Summerbell was born in Durham and played county football for Chester-le-Street a ...

at the Riverside Stadium. He was fourth choice keeper at the club behind

Mark Schwarzer Mark Schwarzer ( , ; born 6 October 1972) is an Australian former professional football player who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He represented Australia men's national soccer team, Australia at international level ...

Mark Crossley Mark Geoffrey Crossley (born 16 June 1969) is a football coach and former Wales international footballer. As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1988 until 2011 and he has previously played for numerous clubs in England's top flight, notably fo ...

and

Marlon Beresford Marlon Beresford (born 2 September 1969) is an English former professional footballer and current goalkeeping coach at Stevenage. He formerly also worked as an accountancy tutor and sports commentator after retiring from football. Career She ...

. He was then loaned out to Scunthorpe United due to his lack of first team action.

Scunthorpe United

In September 2001, Bennion was loaned out to Scunthorpe United as cover for Tommy Evans. He did not make one single appearance for the Third Division side, however in March 2002 his loan deal from Middlesbrough was made permanent as he signed on a free transfer. Just one month later in April 2002, he left

Glanford Park Glanford Park, currently known as The Attis Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football stadium in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, and is the home of team Scunthorpe United F.C., Scunthorpe United. Opened in 1988 at ...

for League of Ireland side Shelbourne on a free transfer.

Shelbourne

In April 2002, Bennion joined Shelbourne in seek of more first team chances. For the remainder of the 2001–02 season, Bennion was deputy to Welsh keeper Steve Williams. He made just 10 league appearances for

Pat Fenlon Patrick Fenlon (born 15 March 1969) is an Irish football coach and former player. Fenlon played as a midfielder for St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. As a manager he won five League of Ireland title ...

's side and won a

medal in 2003. He was second choice keeper at Tolka Park and moved to Dundalk in 2004 as a result of little first team action.

Dundalk

Bennion signed for

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

side Dundalk in March 2004. He chose the Lillywhites ahead of Premier Division side

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

because he wanted regular first team action. He made his debut against

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

in March 2004 at

Oriel Park Oriel Park is a UEFA Category 2 football stadium located on the Carrickmacross Road in Dundalk, Ireland. The stadium is the home ground of Dundalk Football Club and is owned and operated by the club on land that has been leased from the Casey ...

. Dundalk won the match 1–0 thanks to a

Stephen Geoghegan Stephen Geoghegan (born 4 June 1970 in Dublin) is an Irish former footballer. His first league club was Drogheda United where he won two League of Ireland First Division titles and 1 League of Ireland First Division Shield. After a spell of ...

goal. He played nearly every game during the 2004 season which was a poor season for the club. He was a key member of the Dundalk side who won the League of Ireland First Division in 2008. After spending six seasons with Dundalk and making over 170 appearances for the club Chris left Dundalk after being dislodged as first team keeper by his fellow country man Peter Cherrie.

Athlone Town

On 7 December he joined

side Athlone Town as captain in the pursuit of first team football.

St Patrick's Athletic

On 13 July 2010 Bennion signed for

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

side

St. Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played ...

. His contract with

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they play t ...

was cancelled by mutual consent after he informed the club that terms were agreed between himself and Pete Mahon of St Patricks Athletic. Bennion made his St.Pat's début in a 1–0 loss to Dublin rivals Bohemians at Richmond Park, this turned out to be his only appearance of the 2010 season.

Monaghan United

On 20 December 2011 Bennion signed for

Monaghan United Monaghan United F.C. is an Irish association football club based in Monaghan currently playing in the Monaghan Cavan League. The club joined the League of Ireland in 1983 and subsequently went on to play in the B Division, the First Division an ...

as a replacement for Gabriel Sava. On 2 March he played his first competitive game in a nil all draw against his former club Dundalk. On 18 June 2012, the club announced their withdrawal from the

and all of their playing staff were released by the club.

Return to Shelbourne

On 6 July Bennion rejoined Dublin club Shelbourne.Bennion signs for Shelbourne
/ref>

Longford Town

In December 2012 he joined

side

. Bennion's competitive league debut came in a 5–0 win against Salthill Devon at the Drom in County Galway. The Scot conceded his first competitive goal a week later at home to Waterford United but his side recovered to a 2–1 win after Paudie Quinn's stunning opener for the visitors who were Waterford United. He was a member of the Longford squad which lifted the 2014 League of Ireland First Division title. Bennion decided to retire at the end off the season and take up a role in coaching . His final appearance saw him save a penalty in Longford's 2–0 victory away to

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club is an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. They hail from Ballybofey, County Donegal and play their ho ...

on 12 October 2014.

Honours

Shelbourne *

(1):

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Dundalk *

(1):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Longford Town *

(1):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

St Patrick's Athletic * Leinster Senior Cup (1):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennion, Chris Scottish men's footballers 1980 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers Middlesbrough F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Athlone Town A.F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Monaghan United F.C. players Longford Town F.C. players League of Ireland players Footballers from Edinburgh Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Bohemian F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century Scottish sportsmen