Alan Bennett has won the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Player of the Month award for October,
.It caps a month in which Bennett captained Cork City to their first Airtricity League Premier Division title in 12 years, and retained their FAI Cup crown for a first-ever double.
The centre-back, who was also a stalwart of the 2005 league winners, hailed a title run-in where clean sheets against Bohemians and Derry City secured the scoreless draws needed to secue the trophy.
"It has been an historic year for the club, the work everyone has put in, John Caulfield especially, has been tremendous and we have got the rewards for it," Bennett said.
"To win this award is personally very nice. We kept a couple of clean sheets in October and finished strongly defensively to win the league.
"We had the best defensive record in the league and when we look back on what we were able to achieve this season, it is something we can all be extremely proud of.
"I feel good, a little sore after Sunday but we can all have a bit of a rest now and come back stronger next season."
Bennett held off former teammates Billy Dennehy (St Patrick's Athletic) and Chiedozie Ogbene (Limerick), who finished second and third in the voting.
Bennett also won the Player of the Month award for November 2016.