Dundalk re-sign Robbie Benson on a one year deal

Dundalk have announced the re-signing of midfielder Robbie Benson ahead of the 2018 SSE Airtricity League season.

Benson, who became a first team regular with the Lilywhites in 2017 is set for a third season at Oriel Park having joined from UCD at the beginning of the 2016 campaign.

The 25-year-old has won a league title as well as an EA Sports Cup during his time in County Louth while also contributing to the team’s run in Europe in 2016.

However, Benson has also endured tough times with Stephen Kenny’s men.

The midfielder was involved from the start as the Lilywhites lost out to Cork City on penalties in last month’s FAI Cup final.

While the Athlone native admits finding it difficult to get over the cup final heartache, he feels that it will add to Dundalk’s fire in their attempts for silverware come 2018.

“For me anyway, it was a tough week after the Cup final. Especially to lose on penalties – the whole season ended on a penalty shoot-out whereas if it goes the other way you’re looking back a bit more fondly but, I can only speak for myself and it’s given me a motivational factor in the off season,” Benson told dundalkfc.com.

“I will work hard until we are back in January and hopefully progress again. I felt that I improved a lot last year, from year one to year two and hopefully that continues again.”

Benson joins the likes of Sean Gannon and Chris Shields who have committed their future to the Lilywhites in recent weeks, while the likes of Ronan Murray and Patrick Hoban have also joined the club.

Upon penning his new deal Benson revealed his delight at the business Lilywhites boss Stephen Kenny has done in the off-season.

“Looking on it was great to see the players who re-signed, Sean Gannon, and even before the end of the season Chris Shields and Brian Gartland, and I think the signings that Stephen has added are top quality and any team in the league would be lucky to have them.

“I am looking forward to playing with them and getting used to how they like to play and seeing how we progress as a team next year and hopefully we can be very successful together.”