Comment: One of the game's true greats, Brian Fenton leaves us ...
June 24, 2015. Brian Fenton has played just one championship game for Dublin but the man who knows him best Ciarán Whelan is already predicting big things. Much bigger things.
“I think midfield is becoming a crucial part but Dublin have Brian Fenton who I think is going to be a name that everybody will remember at the end of the year,” Whelan declared of his Raheny club-mate. “I thought he was excellent against Longford. He does the simple things very right, he defends very well and I think he's given them an added option in the middle of the park.
“It means that Cian O'Sullivan can be released to number six and Dublin were kind of struggling in that area. (Denis) Bastick was injured, Michael Darragh (Macauley) and Cian O'Sullivan were the only real options. Now they have Bastick back fit and they have Brian Fenton coming back in, who is going to be difficult to dislodge from the team.”
Takes one great midfielder to know another, you might say, but Whelan had no hesitation in championing one of his own even if the 22-year-old’s progression had been slower than others.
Being cut from the county’s minor team and deemed not good enough to start for the U20s, the spectacular career of a fear láidir who is rightly considered up there with, if not above Jack O’Shea as the greatest in his field may not have happened were if not for Whelan.
For it was under his tutelage of Raheny’s U21s that Fenton recovered from a twisted knee to be called into the county’s under-age set-up by Dessie Farrell and eventually claim acol starting place for the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final against Cavan. From there, he never looked back.
By year’s end, Jim Gavin was in touch and the start of what turned out to be a beautiful friendship. From that Longford game in 2015 to an extra-time All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo, Fenton, the son of a Spa man, became the embodiment of Dublin’s utter dominance of Gaelic football. In their unbeaten championship run of 45 games that lasted almost seven seasons, Fenton featured in all but two of them and only because Gavin could afford to rest him.
As Whelan mentioned, Fenton’s arrival allowed Gavin to make O’Sullivan a sentinel, a chess move necessary after what happened against Donegal the previous season and one that would serve Dublin so splendidly well over the next five years.
Fenton was announced man of the match in his first All-Ireland final, that rain-lashed win over Kerry. The portfolio of performances against Mayo that he put together in subsequent All-Ireland finals and semi-finals is a collection that will stand the test of time.
Fenton had it all. A ferocious strength that made him a colossus under a dropping ball and pawing away opponents, he could grind but he glided and graced too. The deftness with which he covered the Croke Park field and caressed points over the bar belied his 6ft5in frame.
Being the most recognisable face as Dublin players were caught training illegally in Innisfails GAA club during a time of covid restrictions in 2021 was a low point for Fenton. That notoriety was difficult for him, as he later admitted, but to win a seventh All-Ireland in 2023 while being nominated for the footballer of the year for the fourth time and claiming a sixth All-Star reminded everyone of his awesome qualities.
Three championship defeats in 64 SFC games, a 100% record in Leinster that amounted to 29 matches, at the age of 31 Fenton leaves the stage with people wanting more but when he gave so much there will be few quibbles even if his departure after James McCarthy unquestionably marks an end of an era of Dublin. He was irked when he was issued a straight red card for the first time in a Dublin jersey in this year’s Division 1 final against Derry but there was no obvious signs of decline in his displays as he was yet again an All-Star nominee and man of the match in the Leinster final win over Louth.
His retirement is not expected to be the last in the Dublin set-up. His close friend Jack McCaffrey has stepped away twice before and it would surprise few if he were to do so for a third and final time. Paul Mannion is also considering his options having also exited stage left in the past.
There is also speculation about the intentions of John Small and Mick Fitzsimons, while Stephen Cluxton could be taking his first steps into management if the bush telegraph is accurate.
If McCarthy’s decision to retire was a hook, Fenton’s will come as an uppercut to Dublin supporters. If McCarthy was a Bentley, Fenton was a Rolls Royce. Their garage feels a lot emptier now but to know they once had them will hearten them forever.
In time, to be able to say you saw Fenton in full flight will be as rich a claim as having witnessed Mick O’Connell soar and O’Shea surge. He was that good. Whelan told us he might be.
