Photos Of Glenn Whelan Bashfully Applauding Ireland Fans Through The Years

Glenn Whelan will never be loved by the RTE panel, or even the casual Ireland supporter, but he is a stalwart, a soldier, a tireless worker who has toiled in the crazed Eyre Square Supermacs kitchen at 2am on a Saturday night that is the Ireland midfield for eight long years with barely a complaint. Whelan turns 32 today. A mature age, an age where a man can look back on his achievements as a man and look forward to the future still in hope. We examined the Sportsfile archive today for Whelan photos and what we found were a whole lot of photos of Whelan applauding Ireland fans after wins, losses and defeats.

These photos epitomise the pro that Whelan is: diligent, considerate and apologetic after a dire, turgid 90 minutes of football. He knows Irish football fans are aesthetes at heart. Deep down, I believe Whelan is aesthete as well. But we must work with the tools given to us. Win, lose or draw, Whelan is always thinking of the fans.

Bulgaria, home, 2009, applauding Ireland fans for keeping faith after a grim home draw

Bulgaria, away, 2009, applauding Ireland fans for keeping faith after a grim away draw

Georgia, home, 2009, applauding Ireland fans for keeping faith in a match where we needed one of the dodgiest penalties ever awarded to beat Georgia

Slovakia, away, 2010, a draw, applauding Ireland fans for keeping faith even though Robbie Keane missed a penalty

Germany, away, 2013, defeat, applauding Ireland fans for keeping faith even though Noel King was manager and there was absolutely no reason to have faith

Kazakhstan, home, 2013 a win, applauding Ireland fans for keeping faith even though we were losing to feckin' Kazakhstan at home.

Estonia, home, 2011, after qualification for Euro 2012, fists projected heavenwards to Ireland fans for keeping faith