The decision of Brian Fenton to step away from the Dublin panel for the 2025 season has only now begun to sink in.
One of the greatest footballers of his generation, Fenton’s stats stack up with the very best in Gaelic football history, and his shock retirement at just 31 will leave a massive void in midfield for the Dubs next season.
Doing the media rounds this week, the Raheny man revealed that a hitherto unknown operation had contributed to his decision.
In explaining this at a Second Captains event in Dublin, he reserved a brilliant one-liner at the expense of Meath legend Gerry McEntee.
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Brian Fenton explains his reasoning for Dublin retirement
29 June 2024; Brian Fenton of Dublin in action against Cein Darcy of Galway during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final match between Dublin and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Brian Fenton was one of the special guests at a Second Captains live show in Liberty Hall Theatre on Saturday evening.
Naturally, the Dublin legend was asked about his retirement from inter-county football. He explained that he had simply not felt the same motivation as before during the 2024 season, and revealed he had required surgery on a groin issue during the year.
It wasn’t the same motivation and same buzz as it once was. I wasn’t getting the same kick going home to grab the gearbag to go training.
That, tied in with another couple of things…heading for an operation, ten years on the road, it just came to a natural conclusion. No drama, no nothing. I was just kinda happy with my lot in many ways.
It was something that crept up on me over the year. I remember one training camp in Portugal, you should be absolutely buzzing and loving it in the sun. I was just thinking, ‘Jesus, I’m not feeling it. I’m not getting the kick out of it.’
Maybe as the year ended as well with the disappointing defeat to Galway, it was just an accumulation of things in many ways.
When pressed on the revelation that he had received surgery, Fenton explained that he had a groin issue causing problems, and that surgery was inbound in the new year. Speaking to Mick Foley in the Sunday Times, Fenton expanded on the issues.
“I was carrying a knock which I have to get cleaned up in January, this Gilmore’s groin thing,” Fenton said. “The pubic bone just below my lower abdominals, basically. It’s as if you got two stab wounds through the abs.”
The surgery will be carried out by Gerry McEntee – a two-time All-Ireland winner with Meath. During a decorated career, McEntee was named an All-Star in 1987 as Meath won the All-Ireland. It was the first Celtic Cross of McEntee’s career, though he was sent off in the following year’s final – won against Cork for the second year in a row.
McEntee works as a surgeon in the Mater hospital, specialising in groin injuries. Brian Fenton brilliantly quipped at the Second Captains show that the infamous Dublin-Meath rivalry might have seen him reconsider his choice of surgeon had he not been retiring.
I’d to get my groins tied up by the famous Gerry McEntee from Meath. I don’t know how much I trust him!
If I was heading into another season, I’d be asking someone else to do it…I’ll trust him for now.
Meath will certainly be feeling a boost in their hopes of toppling Dublin in Leinster next year without the titanic force of Brian Fenton in midfield.
You can listen to the snippet from the Second Captains show here, with more to come during the week.
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