Dublin’s End of an Era
22/11/2024 17:07:15
The Dublin Gaelic Football team has been dealt a major blow this week when midfielder Brian Fenton announced his retirement from inter county football, at the age of 31. Fenton has been apart of a hugely successful period for Dublin, being apart of the 6 in a row All Ireland winning team, with Fenton winning 7 All Ireland titles in total.
There had been rumours for a couple of years that Fenton would step away from the Dublin set up in order to travel, but this announcement still comes as a bit of a shock. The shock decision of the 31-year-old to step out of the inter-county arena comes off the back of James McCarthy's retirement, which was confirmed earlier this month. Fenton won 6 all stars and also remained unbeaten in the championship from his debut in 2015 until 2021. Let’s take a look at the Dublin careers of Brian Fenton and James McCarthy, as well as looking at the rumours of other potential players leaving the panel and what this means for Dublin.
Dublin Legends
Brian Fenton and James McCarthy will go down as 2 of Dublin’s greatest ever players in what was a golden era for the Dublin football team, not only becoming the first team to win 5 All Ireland’s in a row but bettering that by winning 6 in a row. Fenton received individual awards also winning 6 all stars and being named footballer of the year on 2 occasions in 2018 and 2020. In his championship career Fenton made 64 appearances, scoring 4-72. His last appearance for Dublin was an All Ireland quarter final defeat to Galway, the earliest Dublin have exited the championship in 15 years. James McCarthy retired from inter county football earlier this month, but was less of a shock. McCarthy had one of the greatest and most successful careers in Gaelic football.
McCarthy was also part of Dublin’s sick in a row success but also won All Ireland’s in 2011,2013 and 2023. McCarthy captained Dublin to their most recent All Ireland in 2023, his ninth. McCarthy and team-mates Stephen Cluxton and Mick Fitzsimons are the only players to win nine senior All-Ireland football medals. He was also the recipient of five All-Stars. He established himself as one of the foremost forces in the game, initially as a wing-back in Pat Gilroy’s team, before becoming a midfield partner for fellow Dublin retiree Brian Fenton.
McCarthy will be 35 in March so his retirement is not a great shock, although he did compete for Leinster in the inter provincial series to trial the new rules, which could have hinted at him staying on with Dublin, but this was not the case. The two players will no doubt go down as not only Dublin greats but Gaelic football greats.
"Dublin should be fine when it comes to the Leinster championship due to the quality of that province but when it comes to the All Ireland championship if they lose all the players mentioned it will be difficult to see them as victors."
Who’s Next and What’s Next?
It has already been reported that Stephen Cluxton will not be available next year with it looking like the 43 year old goalkeeper has also called time on his legendary inter county career. The future of fellow nine time All-Ireland medallist Mick Fitzsimons won’t be clear until after Cuala’s Leinster and possible All-Ireland club campaign has concluded.
As of this moment, there is no indication whether Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion, both of whom returned in 2023 after two years out, will continue for 2025. John Small has also been the subject of recent speculation about inter-county retirement. County teams will return to team training in December, so it will become clearer in the coming weeks what is next for Dublin. Dublin could be losing a significant part of their squad, with them also struggling to bring through players in the last few years, could we be seeing the end of Dublin’s era of dominance?
Brian Fenton and James McCarthy will go down as two of the greats to play the game and will be missed by not only Dublin fans but neutral fans, as they were a joy to watch. Dublin should be fine when it comes to the Leinster championship due to the quality of that province but when it comes to the All Ireland championship if they lose all the players mentioned it will be difficult to see them as victors.
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Jack Guing
Jack hails from County Offaly in Ireland and joins the team as a Content Writer and Performance Analyst. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and History from Maynooth University and a master’s degree in Sports Performance from the University of Limerick. Jack is a keen sports fan with a love for performance analysis and wishes to use this data-driven style that is seen in performance analysis in his writing to deliver informative predictions.