BRIAN FENTON HAS assured Dublin fans that he will learn from his National League final dismissal and that he won’t lose his cool like that again.
The experienced midfielder was shown a straight red card by referee Conor Lane for reacting to a heavy challenge by Derry’s Eunan Mulholland with a shove to the neck area.
Mulholland dropped to the ground and Fenton said there was a ‘bit of playacting’ but the seven-time All-Ireland medallist understood it ‘was my own fault to get involved in it really’.
Fenton contested the card and accompanying one-match ban but was unsuccessful and missed last weekend’s Leinster SFC quarter-final defeat of Meath.
Speaking at a promotion for Dublin GAA sponsors Staycity Aparthotels, Fenton said losing his cool and lashing out was the big mistake.
“That was personally the most disappointing thing,” said Fenton. “And look, again, in my defence, I didn’t run to swing at anyone, I just ran to push and let my frustrations known. It was just the height difference and the weight difference probably, and the bit of reaction then which added to the commotion in the stadium I think.
“You give the linesman and the referee no option there in that scenario, so that’s another big learning for me.”
Fenton had never been sent off before, for his club Raheny or Dublin, and assured that it won’t happen again.
“I know for sure it shouldn’t and won’t happen again,” he said. “I can say that now and I’ll be in the thick of it in an All-Ireland semi-final or something! But I know that I’m not a player who plays that way.”
Fenton had just changed direction during the league final and attempted to burst away from Mulholland when he was caught by a strong right arm, prompting the reaction.
“You could see the closed fist coming in,” said Fenton. “It’s not something that I would ever leave in there. It’s not something that I like in the game, to be totally honest with you. So it definitely peed me off a little bit.
“You can often protect yourself because you’re probably carrying the ball in your core position, so often you can protect yourself, but you see it in hurling, for instance, that clip across the elbow that they don’t like, kind of red card offences.
“And it’s something I would be of the opinion that goes missed a lot of the time by referees. You can get away with it, if you know what I mean, and it can be a very hurtful, dangerous, kind of nasty little thing to do. So that’s I suppose where the frustration came out of.”
