He was down but never out.
Watching Brian Fenton command Dublin’s midfield is watching a man completely in his element. His work-rate, ball skills and a heightened understanding of where to be on the pitch at all times have helped establish him as arguably the finest midfielder in the GAA.
Considering his indomitable rise with Dublin, it’s hard to imagine a point in which Fenton was struggling to make it as a footballer. But that’s how it used to be for the Raheny man.
A late growth spurt helped transform Fenton from a slight midfielder into the fearsome physical specimen we have become accustomed to. Before that, becoming a Dublin senior footballer seemed like a fading pipe dream, especially when he was told he hadn’t made the county minor team.
Dessie Farrell, the Dublin minor manager at the time, had followed Fenton closely but overlooked him. For Fenton, who had dreamed of being a Dublin footballer since watching the Dubs play under the lights at Croke Park one evening when he was a child, it was a bitterly disappointing bit of news to have to stomach.
“I remember having a frank discussion with Dessie Farrell, one of my heroes, and he told me ‘listen, this isn’t going to happen for you,” the 25-year-old told Dublin City FM 103.2.
“I was doing my leaving cert at the time and my football was struggling because of it but it was hard to take, growing up wanting to play and being told that you wouldn’t be playing in Croke Park as a minor, which seems to be the natural stepping stone to becoming a senior footballer, so that was a tough pill to swallow and I remember being very down about it at the time.
“But it was something like an innate stubbornness in me that drove me on to say ‘listen, this isn’t the end for me.’ Alright, it’s not working out now but I still had to pursue it.”
Of course, that wasn’t the end for him. Far from it. Fenton was overlooked for two years of county minors and was almost ignored for a third year of under-21s as well before his Raheny club mate Paddy O’Higgins convinced Farrell to take another look at him.
Brian Fenton is like the T1000 terminator according to @ConanDoherty https://t.co/8WlVSzDthm pic.twitter.com/iphJ9mJqwN
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) August 28, 2016
After Farrell watched Fenton star in a league game, the player was suddenly thrown straight into the U21 team and hasn’t looked back since.
Much like Bernard Brogan, Fenton remains a shining example of how you can make it even if you don’t star at underage level. At 25, he is already a hugely influential member of Jim Gavin’s side but has plenty of years left in senior football.
At one stage, the prognosis on Fenton’s football career was decidedly bleak. However, thanks to an undimmed enthusiasm for the sport, an undying commitment to improve his skills and one of his club mates looking out for him, Fenton has become one of the finest footballers of his generation.
It’s just as well he didn’t pack it in after having that chat with Farrell. Dublin would be a much lesser side for it, that’s for sure.
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