BRIAN FENTON’S EYES light up when he’s asked about Dublin’s All-Ireland winning 2023.
“What a buzz,” he smiles.
“It was the best football year I’ve ever had, not personally, but just as a team. The craic and proving people wrong. It’s genuinely one of my most enjoyable years ever. Doing it for Dessie, doing it for Clucko coming back, Maccer.
“To see James lift the cup… there’s a slow-mo RTÉ showed of him lifting the cup, and it just gives you a buzz. When I look back on this year whenever my career finishes, this will stand out as one of the best ever.”
Thankfully, that won’t be any time soon for the 30-year-old midfield general.
“I’m as motivated as ever,” Fenton, two-time Footballer of the Year and 2023 nominee, warns.
“It’s that longevity thing, to stay at the top, because it’s a lovely view and a nice taste.”
The Dublin team will continue to take those in over the coming weeks, heading for the Caribbean on a team holiday. With partners and kids in toe, they fly to Miami on Sunday, and then it’s onwards to a resort in the Dominican Republic.
Before the players know it, though, they’ll be “back to the beauty of Innisfails,” Fenton laughs, with the graft put in and groundwork laid for 2024 through the month of December.
Whether the likes of McCarthy, Cluxton and Dean Rock will be there remains to be seen.
There were some retirement hints dropped after the All-Ireland final win over Kerry, alright, but Fenton has heard nothing since.
“The emotion gets to their heads! No official word, genuinely. You’re scared to ask. You just see what happens and hope for the best. No official lines or words yet, thankfully. For now, whoever comes back, so be it.”
One certain returnee is manager Dessie Farrell. Two more years. Just how big of a boost is that?
“Massive,” Fenton beams. “I only know Dessie, Jim [Gavin], Dessie.
“Like I’ve said many times in the past, he’s like a second father to me. I would literally run through a wall for him.
“For him to stay on is amazing. It’s unexpected but expected at the same time, whatever way his contract fell.
“I heard on Twitter, not dissimilar to most people. It’s great. The easy opportunity for him, I’m sure, would be like, ‘All-Ireland winning manager twice, see you later’. For him to give us another go only builds our confidence. We’ll give it another crack with the same management.
“Obviously, there will be new voices, innovation and you’re looking for one percenters here and there with backroom staff and players. Once Dessie is at the helm, I think he’ll have the respect of the group. No doubt about it, he’ll give it a crack again.”
So too will Fenton’s club, Raheny. It took a semi-final penalty shootout for All-Ireland holders Kilmacud Crokes to edge them out of the Dublin championship last month, instilling belief that they’re not far off.
The influence of Mayo goalkeeper Rob Hennelly epitomised their rising stanards, and the hope is they can continue on an upward trajectory next year. That insight is interesting.
“Rob was brilliant behind the scenes, adding in things we had never done on a club scene like prepping kickouts. He was a consistent free-taker we had never had. You can feel the benefit of that standard dropping into your team straight away and it brings on players who are training with them every day. We got a huge bounce off it.”
Back to the inter-county scene. With Dublin’s return to the top table, talk of their advantages will likely heighten once more. It’s only natural, Fenton nods.
There will be detractors. There will be rumours.
He won’t pay too much heed.
“I heard years ago that our partners and wives get matchday expenses for taxis and a few drinks. That was the biggest load of waffle I’ve ever heard!
“I’ll always just make the point that money isn’t gonna push me up and down the pitch in a Bronco test when I’m trying to beat James McCarthy across the line or money isn’t gonna get me going when we’re going up to Derry or Omagh. It’s something intrinsic as well that has driven our success.
“I absolutely acknowledge the benefit behind the scenes, but obviously we’re the figurehead of it so I can see why it comes. I don’t get too much into it.”
James McCarthy is someone Fenton mentions time and time again. That trophy lift from August in the Hogan Stand replays in his mind. What is it about him? “He’s a joke! And I say ‘joke’ in the best possible way.
“He’s a gentleman first and foremost. Now he’ll mill a fella out on the pitch, no problem. He’s no saint on the pitch, but just the person he is.
“In the dressing room, he doesn’t speak massively but if you’re in the shit, he’s always the first leading the charge. You can imagine he’s fucking just pulling us along with him like. He’s just like this spearhead of our whole team and of our whole county, like in a weird, deeper way. He’s just this Titan warrior that’s just pulling us all along with him.”
“As you can tell, I hate the fella,” he adds with a laugh.
“Stephen is the same, they’re just these iconic men and iconic figures. I will always say, ‘Wasn’t I lucky to play with James McCarthy or play with Stephen Cluxton, Diarmuid Connolly,’ for those reasons, because they’re just Dublin legends… Dublin legends.”
Fenton is determined to be remembered as one too.
At the outset of his glittering Dublin career, his motivation was proving himself.
It still is.
“Despite all the medals, stats, whatever, it’s still like I have to prove myself again next year,” he concludes. “I have to go again and be the best, like.
FULL-TIME
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) March 4, 2023
Derry 1-11 Dublin 0-13
Here is the last-gasp winning point from Brendan Rogers.
A tremendous second half comeback from the home side
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“I don’t want to go out in a game and Brendan Rogers be smoking me again like he did this year. I just want to be one of Dublin’s main players, one of Dublin’s best players. If I’m not in the team, I want to be helping the team.
“The motivation, in many ways, it’s still the same. I’m still a kid who wants to play with Dublin and wants to win.”
Staycity Aparthotels has been announced as the new main sponsor of Dublin GAA. The Dublin-based and Irish-owned company has agreed to a five-year deal to incorporate sponsorship of the Dublin men’s and ladies football, hurling, and camogie teams.
