IT was as if they were under 12s again. There were three men in the Dublin dressingroom who’d just won their ninth All-Ireland and lots more with half-a-dozen plus but they celebrated Sunday’s like it was their first.
The wide-eyed boyish happiness among them wasn’t seen during their six in-a-row years when winning Sam Maguires became routine. They didn’t know what they had until it was gone and, after missing out on the last two finals, the Jacks bounced back and we could wait a long time for an All-Ireland title to be celebrated with such genuine joy.
“I'm lucky enough to say I've seven All-Irelands now and this is the best, the sweetest of them all, without doubt,” said Brian Fenton who scored two majestic points against Kerry on Sunday.
“It’s the sweetest of them all for a number of reasons - the way we've performed over the last few years was disappointing all round.
“We were relegated from Division One, we had disappointing results at the end of Championships in ’21 and ’22. A lot of people writing us off... That just helps to build the motivation and, look, we were massively helped this year by the return of return of the lads, the likes of Jack (McCaffrey) and (Paul) Mannion.
“I think I found out (about them returning) on Twitter. I don't know where I was. Jack tells a great one that he kind of convinced Paul to come back which is definitely made up - don't allow him to spread that story.
“Jack had his experience in Africa last year and he came back with kind of a new love and vigour and a desire to play again and we were very lucky to have him and you saw out there, he won a couple of frees, a couple of line-breaks.
“He was unbelievable in that second half and he just spreads fear amongst the opposition, unlike anyone, probably. Maybe David Clifford is the only other person that spreads as much fear.
“So we were very lucky to have him and Mannion coming back is just a class act. We got the band back together for one more hurrah.”
Fenton went 44 Championship games without defeat with Dublin and played every minute of the historic six in-a-row. His 45th Championship appearance came against Mayo in 2021 as Dublin chased a seven in-a-row but the westerners finally turned the tables on the Dubs.
The aura of invincibility was gone and last season there was relegation to Division Two and another semi-final defeat, this time against Kerry.
“When you're used to winning and when you're used to performing on a certain standard and when you don't hit that standard, even personally, you know, my own performances over the last year (were disappointing) it grinds at you and it just gets in on you,” said Fenton.
“You're kind of questioning yourself a little bit and people say: ‘Oh, you've six (All-Irelands) or you've this and that…’ To be honest, you don't give a fiddlers about that really.
“There always seems to be someone trying to drag you down saying: ‘He's not what he was, or they're not what they were’ and that kind of thing.
“So as much as we try and keep it out, it, it filters into the squad and it genuinely, for me personally, I know players get motivated in different ways but for me personally, I just like to kind of prove people wrong a little bit as well.”
