ALWAYS leave them wanting more.
It was the shock of it, more than anything when Brian Fenton’s inter-county retirement was confirmed.
Only two weeks have passed since James McCarthy bid The Blues farewell to no huge surprise at 34 – but Monday night’s news that Fenton followed suit was a bombshell.
The Raheny man is only 31 and will go down as one of the all-time greats – and perhaps the best midfielder to ever play the game.
His potential was clear when he spearheaded Dublin’s All-Ireland under-21 title in 2014, but few could have predicted the dream decade that followed.
Not many could control a game like him, and no more proof was needed when he was man of the match in the 2015 senior final when the Dubs won ugly against Kerry.
At 22, Fenton shone brightest on a field littered with the biggest stars. Power, aggression, defence, attack – he had it all.
It took the Kingdom years to recover from that defeat as Jim Gavin’s men elevated themselves to the greatest team of all time, driven by Fenton’s sheer brilliance at the heart of it.
The facts and figures flowing through his career are staggering. He made his SFC debut against Longford in 2015, and his first championship loss wasn’t until their 2021 semi-final defeat to Mayo.
Fenton played 43 times in that 45-game unbeaten championship run as they won six All-Irelands in a row between 2015 and 2020.
He played in 29 Leinster SFC games and won them all.
The only one he missed was their quarter-final win over Meath this summer, when he was suspended for his red card in their NFL Division 1 final loss to Derry – a rare blot on one of the most golden copybooks ever.
Dublin have played 64 games in league and championship football since Dessie Farrell’s reign began in 2020, and Fenton has played in 63 of them.
If Farrell gave him his start at under-21 level and saw him out at the end, Gavin’s influence in between was colossal.
If Roy Keane mirrored Alex Ferguson’s character on the pitch at Manchester United, Fenton was that man for Gavin’s Dublin.
He consistently went above and beyond when it came to the key attributes his manager wanted in the perfect player – resilience, leadership, and optimal performance.
Fenton ticked them all, pretty much every time. He played games on his terms and made it look so easy with his sheer strength and outrageous fitness. Every inch was covered.
He ghosted in for vital scores time and time again – from his goal just four minutes into his league debut in Monaghan against Clones to his score against Kerry in the 2023 All-Ireland final to put Dublin a point up before powering home.
Fenton brought his game to a whole new level last season when the Dubs got the band back together for one last dance.
Stephen Cluxton, Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion all returned after stepping away in 2021 as they watched Tyrone and Kerry conquer from the sidelines.
The Jacks were back, but a huge cloud hangs over the capital now. McCarthy’s departure was one thing, but losing Fenton is on a totally different scale.
The Hill 16 faithful will hope this is not the end, given Michael Murphy is back in the Donegal fold after a two-year hiatus.
Of course, there is more to life than football. Fenton often travels during the off-season and got engaged to his beloved Katie last December.
WHO’S NEXT?
But with him and McCarthy absent from the dressing room and more likely to follow, Dublin’s 2025 credentials are in serious doubt.
It remains to be seen if McCaffrey, Mannion and Cluxton will go again. Michael Fitzsimons is in the same boat but is focussing on Saturday’s Leinster club SFC semi-final with Cuala.
Every team goes through transition and few counties have handled it quite like the Dubs.
The dressing room Fenton entered just under a decade ago was a much different place to the one he leaves.
Dublin powered on when the likes of Bernard Brogan, Michael Darragh Macauley, Paul Flynn, Philly McMahon and Rory O’Carroll left the fold.
But this is different. Brian Fenton in his pomp is irreplaceable. An encore could come down the line, but the curtain is down now.
What a performer, we all wanted more.
