On Friday night, Brian Fenton was voted the best Gaelic footballer in Ireland.
His name was called out at the Convention Centre in Dublin to recognise the midfielder as the Footballer of the Year in, this, just his fourth season at inter-county level.
On Saturday, Brian Fenton drove to Belfast.
He was special guest at the St. Paul’s end of year celebration and he was with Anto Finnegan, the co-founder of deterMND, raising awareness for motor neurone disease.
On Sunday, Brian Fenton drove to county Derry.
There, he attended the underage prizegiving of O’Donovan Rossa Magherafelt with his father Brian, he spoke to every girl and boy coming through the Oak Leaf club and he recalled a game 11 years previous.
(Monday night)You see, there was once a time when Brian Fenton could lose an All-Ireland final.
Since he’s donned a sky blue jersey, the Raheny native has known nothing else except winning but he had to wait and wait for a Dublin call-up.
He didn’t play minors and he didn’t play under-21s for two years and was only called in late in 2014, his last year of eligibility. He was catapulted not into the squad but straight into the 15 after a general conversation with his club mate who told Dessie Farrell to watch him play in a league match.
From there, Dublin went on and won the 2014 under-21 All-Ireland.
From there, Fenton was invited onto the senior panel for the following season.
From there, he’s won four All-Irelands in four campaigns, collected three All-Star awards for himself and now a Footballer of the Year gong.
The story of Brian Fenton’s rise from nowhere gives hope to every late developer
At 4.55pm on Sunday, he arrived at the Elk in south Derry for the Magherafelt prizegiving. Three and a half hours later, he was still there, still standing for photos, still talking with young footballers and camógs, sharing the celebrations with club stalwarts, and it wasn’t until after 8.30pm that he was making his way back to Dublin, a two and a half hour trek to Raheny.
It wasn’t a quick in and out, show your face, shake hands and get the hell out of there. Even as the Rossa folk understandably assumed that, when he won Footballer of the Year on the Friday night, his plans might alter somewhat giving that he was suddenly the most sought-after man in the GAA, Fenton showed up and he wasn’t in any rush to leave again. As his father would attest to, ‘when Brian commits to something, he commits’.
So he went to Belfast the day after the All Star awards, as per his word, before making his way for Derry at the end of a weekend that started with him receiving the most prestigious individual accolade in the sport.
Two legends together #GAA Family @AFinn73 @deterMND #AllStarsTogether @BrianFenton08
This is what the GAA is about! pic.twitter.com/N788pxlrIN
— Antrim GAA (@AontroimGAA) November 3, 2018
Surrounded by the camogie players and footballers of the future, Fenton’s presence would’ve been jaw-dropping but he let them all lift his trophies, take as many pictures as they wanted to and, most importantly, he spoke to them straight from the heart.
Brian Fenton’s isn’t the usual story and far from an easy one. It wasn’t a classic case of a precocious kid who kept working hard or someone so used to winning that it was always going to come good for him. For nearly 21 years, he wasn’t on Dublin’s radar until, suddenly, after one league game, he was. It’s what he did in between that set him apart and, for a club like the Rossas, with so much underage success, they couldn’t have had a better mentor to listen to.
“No matter who you are, there’s always room for improvement.”
Even after three Sam Maguires in succession, Fenton started 2018 the same way he starts every year, setting himself a target. For him, he wanted to improve on his shooting so he was down in Raheny’s pitch in his spare time this season working on just that and the results were obvious to the entire country who started to compare his scoring from the number eight jersey to the great Anthony Tohill.
It’s having that harbour of the club that was always so important to Fenton though. He told the kids of how he was small growing up but, because of that, he had to work harder on the skills of the game and, because of that, he leant on the good people of Raheny to help him. He even gave a nod to the real beauty of the GAA, that it isn’t about him wearing a starting kit or just about any of those lucky enough to play on a Sunday – rather, it’s about having a love for your community, giving back to it and looking out for each other in whatever way you can do that, whether it’s from midfield or in the committee room.
He also spoke about Fergal Duffin.
A name that haunted the Footballer of the Year. A player who terrorised Raheny in the All-Ireland Feile A final in 2007. Four syllables that made Fenton sick to the stomach for years, he was that annoyed by the loss to Magherafelt.
Fenton was captain that day during the 2-6 to 2-3 loss in the decider and Setanta televised the clash at the time.
Whilst the imposing Dublin midfielder might’ve been a late bloomer, he still had skill and he still had that frightening stride straight through the middle of the pitch.
Run and kick.
In the dying seconds, three points down, Fenton plucked one from the sky with an almighty catch and he was no sooner turned and blasting at the goals.
After the save, he got the ball again, turned onto his left this time and chanced his arm for one final throw of the dice but, as the post spared Magherafelt, Raheny were beaten and Fenton had lost an All-Ireland final.
Catch and shot.
Watch the catch again, for God’s sake.
11 years later and Magherafelt are Féile champions again and Fenton found it in him to go and present at the awards alongside Slaughtneil All-Ireland winning camogie captain Aoife Ní Chaiside.
And, as they found out themselves, an even more impressive man than he is a footballer.
