Brian Fenton: ‘Being that player for 12 years will be what I’ll be proud of’

Dublin in the off season, another sit-down chat in Parnell Park, and there is still no limit on the number of times Brian Fenton counts himself lucky.

For what it is worth, few Dublin footballers in history have enjoyed as consistent a level of success – including his once six-year, 44-game unbeaten championship run – and for Fenton it is not something he will ever take for granted.

Not when he has been lucky with the team he broke into, lucky with injury, lucky with all the people who steered him along the way, and lucky perhaps he did not stick with swimming, which also brought him early sporting success.

Some might say Fenton was incredibly unlucky when his club Raheny lost the Dublin club semi-final last month, champions Kilmacud Crokes scoring an injury-time goal, then winning 5-4 on penalties, denying Raheny only a second-ever final spot in their 65-year history.

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However, Fenton does not sound beat up about that. “Crokes being Crokes, got the last-minute goal,” he says. “I fell into the trap of thinking we were over the line, in my head I was, ‘Jesus we are in a county final’.

“But it was one of my favourite games to be a part of, genuinely, just the drama of it, the club connection, there was a huge crowd here. In many ways we have been a club that has been more hopeful than anything, to get to that level.

“Now I suppose we’re thinking we’re not too far away, we’ll give it a crack next year, so it will build a bit of momentum.”

Fenton is trying not to sound too lucky about where he is going next: after Friday’s All Star ceremony – award number six unquestionably on his way – Dublin fly to Miami, then down to the Dominican Republic, where all the pleasures of the Caribbean await.

[ Seán Moran: The uneasy thoughts of the eternal All Star selector, as big week arrives ]

“It’s weird, over the years I’ve been on some savage holidays, obviously, after the wins, but lads are mad for the gym, mad for runs when we’re over there. So there is that culture, have fun and enjoy yourself, but we know there is a slog coming in January. Bryan Cullen will be out cracking whips,” Fenton says.

“So there is this mindset now, it’s not a piss-up by any means, it’s to chill out, but also use the week, two weeks to get back into the groove of things.”

With that Fenton offers us an exclusive: he has heard nothing from the likes of Stephen Cluxton or James McCarthy on whether they will be back again for 2024, except that all indications are they will.

Fenton turns 31 next March, is entering his 10th straight season and he is certainly good to go for a while yet, again given how lucky he has been with injury. “Yeah, very lucky. The 2015 final I kind of tweaked my shoulder, had surgery that off season, a three- or four-month job. But I’ve been very lucky with soft tissue injuries, freak accidents, cruciates.

“Bernard Brogan, he did his cruciate towards the end of his career, that would be tough. Touch wood that’s not ahead of me, I’ve been very fortuitous.”

Speaking at the announcement of Staycity as new headline sponsor of Dublin GAA, the winning feeling of this summer has raised the bar again in terms of his own commitment.

“Having won this year, there was never a question of buy-in. Everyone was happy to do it again, with the hope of feeling that again,” Fenton says.

[ Brian Fenton: ‘For sure I’ll be back next year. I’d love to do 10 seasons for Dublin’ ]

“On the flipside of that, having not won in the two years prior to that, it kind of gave us that sense of, ‘Okay, we have to relearn how to win and the sacrifice that goes into it’.

“I would have felt maybe towards the six-in-a-row that there were corners being cut. Myself, personally, it went right down to the very basics. Having lost and been unsuccessful, you kind of relearn what it really takes to win again.

“It’s more of a longevity thing for me now. We’ve been unbelievably successful, so being that player for a decade or being that player for 12 years will be what I’ll kind of look back on and be proud of.

“And I’m very lucky. You have the likes of James McCarthy with the same kind of mindset. Ciarán Kilkenny is the same. We f***ing hate losing. We f***ing hate seeing our opponents win, and that’s the truth of it. That, for me, is where the juices come from.”

Fenton shares one more piece of luck, in jest: the Raheny loss meant he got to attend Ireland’s Rugby World Cup showdown against New Zealand, in Paris, travelling over by van with his girlfriend, as they invariably do.

“I met Johnny Sexton before, and he kind of knew about us and our team. To think that they look at us and maybe admire us as sports people is genuinely amazing,” Fenton says.

“But we feel there’s a huge movement in Dublin when we get going as well, so it’s not like I feel neglected of that or anything. I’ve been very lucky to feel that from Hill 16 or to feel the movement of a county, in my life as well.”