He lets nothing past him…Wayne Hennessey: a tribute

Having announced his retirement from professional football on 16th July, Iwan Williams looks back at the career of a Cymru great

Wayne Hennessey was born in Bangor on 24th January 1987. He grew up in Beaumaris, Ynys Môn, and spent his early years as a ballboy at Farrar Road with Bangor City.

Football was in the family: cousin Terry Hennessey won 39 Cymru caps between 1962 and 1972.

With a clear talent for the game, in his teenage years Wayne moved to Connah’s Quay in order to be closer to professional clubs. He was a trainee with Manchester City before moving to Wolves in 2003. He would have to wait until May 2007 for his Wolves debut, and what a game: a 3-2 defeat to rivals West Bromwich Albion in the Championship play-off semi-final.

But Wayne had made his mark previously. Out on loan to Stockport County in January 2007, he made a huge impression as the Hatter set a Football League record of nine successive clean sheets and wins. It took nine and a half games for Wayne to be finally beaten (against Barnet in March): some introduction to professional football.

And the Stockport move worked well in other ways: it is said that Brian Flynn attended one game to monitor Wayne, and noticed a certain Ashley Williams on the teamsheet. Brian asked whether Ashley had any Welsh connections, and the rest is history…

Breakthrough

Wayne’s Wolves breakthrough was the 2007/08 season, playing a full Championship season and establishing himself as the Number 1. The following season was similar, with Wolves promoted to the Premier League as Championship title winners. He would spend the following three seasons in the Premier League and playing regularly. However, by the 2013/14 season Wolves were playing League One football, and Wayne was sent out on loan to Yeovil Town.

By January 2014, Wayne made a permanent move to Crystal Palace, thereby ending a decade long association with Wolves. He spent eight seasons with Palace, playing regularly in the Premier League from 2015 to 2018. There were fewer appearances in his final three seasons at Palace, and fewer still with Burnley (three games) in 2021/22 and Nottingham Forest (nine games) in 2022/23. An impressive club career that included 338 games, with 166 of these for Wolves and 132 for Palace.

And then there’s Cymru. Having represented the Under 17 and 19 teams in 2003/4, Wayne was on John Toshack’s radar as Brian Flynn was given the instruction to fast-track talented youngsters into the senior team. Only a fortnight after his senior Wolves debut, Wayne was given his Cymru debut by Toshack in the 2-2 friendly with New Zealand in Wrexham. His friend and teammate Chris Gunter also made his debut that day, and it is remarkable that both ended their Cymru careers with 109 caps, with only Gareth Bale ahead on 111.

Commanding

And that was it. Wayne was in the Cymru team as Toshack stuck with the youngsters, convinced that early exposure to the harsh realities of international football would pay off in the long-term. How he was right. From the age of twenty, Wayne established himself as Cymru’s Number 1, using his six foot six inches frame to maximum effect. It was hard to miss the tall, commanding blond in goal. He played in the 0-0 qualifier against Germany in November 2007, and was outstanding in the 2-0 friendly defeat to the Netherlands before Euro 2008.

Despite healthy competition from Boaz Myhill, he kept his place under Gary Speed as results steadily improved. Having missed several Cymru games in 2012/13 due to a serious injury, he was phenomenal under Chris Coleman in the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. Cymru only conceded four goals in ten games, and Wayne’s form in goal was a huge contributory factor.

Whilst he missed the opening Euro 2016 game against Slovakia due to injury, Wayne recovered and played in the remaining games, including the semi-final defeat to Portugal in Lyon. Like the rest of his teammates, Wayne’s performance in the quarter-final 3-1 win against Belgium in Lille was pure brilliance, and as a Euro 2016 hero, his place in Welsh football history is assured.

Building on the Euros success, Wayne kept winning caps and playing well as Cymru narrowly missed out on qualification for the World Cup 2018. He was excellent once again in goal as Cymru beat Hungary 2-0 in November 2019 to qualify for Euro 2020 under Ryan Giggs. In September 2020,he set a national record of 35 clean sheets as Cymru beat Finland 1-0. However, by the time the delayed Euro 2020 took place in June 2021, Wayne had lost his place to Danny Ward.

Recalled

He was recalled by Rob Page in 2022, and played in the 2-1 play-off semi-final win against Austria.

He won his hundredth Cymru cap in the 1-1 friendly with Czechia in March 2022, with Cymru legend and fellow Northwalian goalkeeper Neville Southall full of praise “To get to 100 caps takes some doing. People say it’s a small country but to get to 100 caps you have to be a great player. No mugs get 100 caps”. Rightly recognised for his achievements, Wayne’s Cymru highlight was yet to come however.

Selected by Rob Page for the World Cup 2022 play-off final against Ukraine on 5th June, Wayne was truly incredible. He had ‘one of those days’ in goal, a ‘Not today’ performance that defied belief. Producing nine huge saves in the Cardiff rain, Wayne was superhuman, a colossus, Bendigeidfran in goal. One Artem Dovbyk header was goal-bound, an inevitability. Wayne had other ideas, and to this day there’s no doubt that Oleksandr Zinchenko and colleagues are still scratching their heads as to how they didn’t score that day.

Sport, and football, can be cruel. You can play a hundred excellent games but be remembered for one cruel mistake or a mistimed error. And unfortunately for Wayne, many will remember him for his World Cup 2022 sending off against Iran. Wayne received an 86th minute red card for his challenge on Mehdi Taremi, with Iran scoring two goals deep into injury time. Remarkably, Wayne became only the third goalkeeper to be sent off in FIFA World Cup history. A bitter end to an underwhelming Cymru World Cup campaign in Qatar.

But Cymru fans would rather remember his performance against Ukraine and other memorable moments in a stunning sixteen year career. The highlights reel published by the Football Association of Wales following his retirement announcement sums it up: incredible saves, match winning moments and phenomenal performances at home and abroad as Wayne played his part in Cymru’s golden generation.

Shot stopper

He had it all: excellent positioning, cool composure, decent on the ball, a brilliant shot stopper, sharp decision-making, great agility for a ‘big man’ and imposing with his huge stature. Ask his teammates Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Joes Allen and Ledley, Ben Davies etc how good Wayne was: Mr Reliable in goal, a dependable last line of defence, remarkable consistency between the sticks. Bale referred to Wayne as “a rock in Wales’ team, a massive part of our success”.

Wayne’s final Cymru cap took place in the 4-0 friendly win against Gibraltar in October 2023. The game took place in Wrexham, where he made his debut all those years ago. Full circle. At one point it looked like Wayne would smash Gareth Bale’s caps record. However, numerous injuries and age finally caught up with him, and he retires as Cymru’s most capped goalkeeper.

Was he underrated and undervalued generally in football? Absolutely. But Cymru fans know how good he was, and that he made an invaluable contribution to Cymru’s success in reaching three finals tournaments and that magical summer in France.

To the tune of ‘Let It Be’, “He lets nothing past him…Hennessey”. Hopefully he’ll return to the Cymru setup one day as a goalkeeping coach: Cymru’s next generation of goalkeepers would benefit hugely from his knowledge and experience.

A nation and Y Wal Goch/The Red Wall are incredibly grateful. Some career. Diolch Wayne.