The streak continues.
Brian Fenton has yet to lose a championship game for Dublin and his list of achievements is stacking up dangerously:
- 4 All-Irelands
- 4 Leinster titles
- 3 national leagues
- 2 All Stars (soon to be 3)
The 25-year-old would look to have the greatest CV in football until you take a look at Ciarán Kilkenny’s frankly ridiculous collection – 6 Leinster titles, 5 All-Irelands, 5 national leagues and 2 All Stars (soon to be 3). And he is four months younger than Fenton. Crazy stuff.
Both men are in line to be nominated for Footballer of the Year, with the main competition coming from Dublin teammates Jack McCaffrey and Brian Howard. David Clifford, Rory Beggan, Karl McConnell and Conor McManus may have shouts but all are likely to be lost in the Dublin din.
The championship and All-Ireland performances of Fenton were marvelled over by Colm Parkinson, Conán Doherty and former Dublin star Dennis Bastick (from 1:05:20 below) on The GAA Hour as The Dub’s four-in-a-row achievement was rightly recognised.
“Brian Fenton is another one,” Parkinson began, “just a machine these days. He doesn’t tire either. He’s a freak.” Bastick commented:
“He’s there at the end of games, picking up scores and catching kick-outs…
“That’s the intensity and the fitness, and the strength. That’s what Dublin have over other teams.”
Fenton was right in the heady mix of it at Smithfield Plaza, on Monday, as the champions were feted at Smithfield Plaza by boisterous Dublin fans.
Speaking at the event to Off the Ball reporter Stephen Doyle, Fenton painted a lovely picture of Dublin’s post-match celebrations. Resident team DJ Michael Darragh Macauley put on two songs in the dressing room after 2017’s All-Ireland triumph.
On Sunday, he repeated the nostalgic dose. The first three songs that rang out were Van Morrison’s ‘Days Like This’ and Bill Withers’ two classics ‘Lovely Day’ and ‘Lean On Me’.
It is that drive to be the very best and eek out every last bit of success from their talent and hard work that makes this team special. But knowing that you will be back in that dressing room again as winners, again, with ‘MDMA’ spinning the tracks, again, is surely another motivating factor.
It is impossible to predict how many more All-Irelands men like Fenton and Kilkenny can yet rack up but few would back against them in 2019.
