Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR IN WAITING?
Dub midfielder taking League by storm
IT wouldn’t be altogether accurate to say that nobody saw it coming with Brian Fenton.
The week after he made his first start for Dublin, scoring 1-1 from wing-forward against Monaghan, almost three years ago, his Raheny clubmate and former county star David Henry was asked how far he could go.
Henry (right, above) was wary of talking him up but still found it difficult not to speak in superlatives.
“In my opinion he has all the attributes that it takes to be a really, really top inter-county footballer,” said Henry in April 2015.
“He’s the type of footballer that Dublin are looking for, someone who’s very comfortable on the ball, somebody who can think on the pitch, somebody who’s a natural leader and a very athletic guy.
“He is very young and he’s only finding his feet at the moment so I’d be wary of building a guy up but in my mind he’s a fantastic player and I really look forward to seeing him play for Dublin for many years hopefully and I’m delighted that he’s representing our club.”
Fenton would finish that year as an All-ireland winning midfielder, an All-star and Young Footballer of the Year. He’s since added another two All-irelands and an All-star while the only defeat he’s suffered with Dublin was in last year’s League final against Kerry, who they face for the first time since back at Croke Park tomorrow.
As it happens, former Dublin star Barney Rock made an interesting comparison between Fenton and arguably Kerry’s greatest ever this week.
“He reminds me a little bit of Jack O’shea, that he just seems to be able to get in around, win that ball, just his presence,” said Rock.
“He’s very good on the ball and the one thing that he’s done this year is he’s added scores to his game.
“From a midfielder’s point of view, that’s going to be very good going forward.”
He’s right. While assessing Fenton’s influence in terms of scoring return only would be to take a very narrow view of his contribution, he has already hit 1-7 from midfield in Dublin’s four League games and has been the standout player in the competition. He only got 0-4 in the entire 2017 League campaign.
Each of the 25-year-old’s 20 Championship appearances have been at midfield though he has had numerous partners in that time, ranging from Michael Darragh Macauley, Denis Bastick, Paul Flynn, Ciaran Kilkenny and James Mccarthy. Mccarthy (inset) overshadowed him somewhat last year but has reverted to the half-back line so far this year.
“He’s a beautiful footballer, his skill level is extremely high, he’s a very intelligent footballer as well,” says Mccarthy.
“He’s easy to play with. You can see with Brian he’s enjoying his football at the moment.
“He’s a really brainy footballer, just class. Maybe we will play together [again], who knows?
“Even playing in the half-backs, we’re very close to each other. There’s a lot of interchanging. We’ve a good understanding like that.”
“He’s probably more complete than when he came in initially,” says Alan Brogan, whose final year with Dublin was Fenton’s debut season.
“He can kick scores, he’s as hard a tackler as Dublin have and because of his size he’s very difficult for anybody to get around. He’s also very mobile – so he does seem to have it all. But he’s up there to be taken off his perch now as well. There will be tough tests ahead.”
There’s no sign of his grades dropping. VERDICT: Dublin