“It’ll be different again next year…”- Brian Fenton looks ahead to 2024

Brian Fenton is sitting in his newly acquired Dublin GAA gear, crested body warmer over sky blue jersey. 

He unzips the body warmer to give a full reveal of the new jersey and immediately gestures to the collar. 

It's a tweaked version of the 2023 collar and he likes the look of it, so too the navy blue motif of new Dublin GAA sponsors Staycity Aparthotels and how that has been worked into the midriff.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how that jersey looks in Croker whenever we get back there," smiled Fenton. 

There is that and more to look forward to in 2024 for the seven-time All-Ireland winning midfielder but right now there is much to reflect on. 

It was a great year in blue for Fenton, who powered Dublin to All-Ireland success before turning his attention to club duty with Raheny who reached the last four of the Go-Ahead Dublin SFC.

Deep into injury-time in that semi-final against Kilmacud Crokes, and leading the holders by three points, they looked poised to secure a first county final place since 1970. A dramatic late Luke Ward goal for Crokes forced extra-time though and, agonisingly for Raheny, they were eventually beaten on penalties. 

Six weeks or so later, Fenton still can't quite figure out how they lost that one.

"I fell into the trap of thinking we were over the line," admitted Fenton. "In my head I was thinking, 'Jesus, we are in a county final!' I couldn't believe it.

"So that was tough to deal with afterwards. It was an amazing game to be a part of and it was streamed on Dubs TV. Genuinely, it was one of my favourite games to have been a part of, just the drama of it and the connection you felt in the club, there was a huge crowd in Parnell Park.

"I met Ciaran Whelan last week and he was like, 'Fento, there were grown men crying in the stand at the thought of the club being in a county final!'

"To not give that to them, that was the big disappointment for me really. In many ways, we have been a club that has been more hopeful than anything about getting to that level but now I suppose we think we are not too far away and we'll give it a crack next year so it will add a bit of momentum hopefully."

A knee injury picked up earlier in the club campaign ruled county colleague Brian Howard out of the club encounter with Crokes. Could he have nudged Raheny over the winning line that day? It's a subject for bar-stool and coffee shop debates. What's certain is that Howard and Fenton will team up in blue again in 2024, in those new Dublin jerseys.

"Thankfully we'll have Brian for Dublin come January," said Fenton who is looking forward to getting stuck into another inter-county campaign himself.

"It'll be different again next year. I really enjoyed the idea this year that we were the hunter again, that we were chasing. If you think about it, if you picture it, I always pictured this lion chasing down a deer or something!

"But I enjoyed that, it was a feeling of, 'The pressure is off us here, the expectancy is off us'. I enjoyed that but, absolutely, when you win that flips.

"But we always talk about finding that motivation, 'Where does your motivation come from?'

"The chat was always about how do we stay ahead of the pack when we were being successful. Now, you're kind of back there, with the success, and it's where can we pivot to that will change our angle, so that when we're being hunted by the rest of the counties that we can stay ahead?"

That's something that Fenton and his Dublin colleagues will consider on their upcoming team holiday.

"We're going to the Dominican Republic, via Miami," he said.

He is looking forward to the break but sure too that it won't be all sun-worshipping and drinking from tall glasses with umbrellas. Not with this group of ultra ambitious Dublin players.

"I've always been fascinated by it over the years, I've been on some savage holidays, after wins, but lads are mad for the gym, mad for runs, mad for that kind of stuff when you're over there," he said. "So there is that kind of culture - have fun and enjoy yourself but we know that there is a slog coming in January too. Bryan Cullen will be out cracking whips and stuff!

"So there is this mindset that it's not a jolly-up by any means, it's an opportunity to chill out, but also an opportunity to use the week or two to get back into the groove of things."