We’re anticipating a huge battle: Brian Fenton

Dublin midfielder Brian Fenton is anticipating a "huge battle" against Westmeath in Sunday's Leinster SFC final in Croke Park (4.0).

It's a repeat of last year's provincial final and the Raheny man believes that the midlanders will be a more potent force because of the big-game experience of last July.

"I think last year was a huge challenge for us to break them down and I'm sure it will be the next day again," says Brian.

“They've come to Croke Park, they have Leinster final experience last year, they have Leinster semi-final experience this year so they'll be well used to the day and the journey up and the whole experience and the crowd and everything.

“We're anticipating a huge battle on Sunday. They have great players, they have a great manager so we're looking forward to it," adds Brian.

Brian was Man of the Match in last September's All-Ireland SFC final and concluded the year as both an All-Ireland winner and one of Dublin's seven All Stars - at midfield alongside Kerry's Anthony Maher.

Not bad for your debut championship season!

However, Dublin manager Jim Gavin says he can get even better.

“We’ve been tracking and scouting Brian from a very young age, at under-21s we played a challenge game against Dave Billings and UCD, God rest him,” says Jim..

“Brian was studying physiotherapy in UCD and he would have been earmarked as a potential Dublin forward or midfielder, but its great to see him take his chance last year when he got it.

“He played very well against Monaghan (last year's league), we played away from home in that game and he kick-started from that.

“He got a starting place in the next game and put in a performance, and from then he has just taken his opportunity.

“The talent was always there, but like any inter-county footballer they are all talented but they all have to work at their game and he certainly worked at his game very hard in the last season.

“He’s worked really hard at that, it didn’t just happen for him. He’s still learning, he understands that as well and we still see growth in his game performances."