PUSHING on rather than pushing off. That's the bad news for the rest of Gaelic football about the intentions of star midfielder Brian Fenton.
PwC Footballer of the Year for the second time in three seasons, still unbeaten in his senior championship career, the Raheny clubman has no plans to take a break from inter-county action, as Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion did in the last campaign.
"We're all different. And I'm very fortunate. Jack obviously has the medicine thing and his career. Paul has his own personal goals and ambitions in life and hopefully he will rejoin us at some stage.
"You can see why, but particularly with the success we've had, the lads are like 'Been there, done it, worn the T-shirt and I'm going to do other things now'.
"But yeah, from my perspective, my outlook is 'Holy sh*t! We're in the best days ever.' This is such a golden period. I've to pinch myself that I'm part of it. How could I ever turn my back on this?
"Now obviously if my career became incredibly demanding, I might have to look at it differently. But I'm very fortunate that everything is in place to play Gaelic football."
Fenton is revelling in being a boy in blue, loving the football they play: "It's so enjoyable. I'm playing with Stephen Cluxton. I'm playing with some of the best footballers ever.
"We have incredible experiences. We've seen the world on the back of team holidays with Dublin. Just the whole package.
"When I'm 32 or 34, I'll have time to go to do loads of different things. But Jeez, I can't understand….or I would never fathom walking away from it.
"Albeit it's a demanding scenario. There's long seasons. It consumes your life. But just from my experience over the last few years, Gaelic football is the best sport in the world. How could I walk away from this Dublin team?"
Even without Mannion and McCaffrey Dublin still dominated, not even conceding a single goal over five Championship outings.
That extended Fenton's remarkable streak of never losing a Championship match with the Dubs, but he admitted the thought continues to cross his mind:
"Yeah, yeah, of course. We've spoken about this. It's almost a burden, although that's not the right way to say it. You'd almost wish people would stop saying it.
"I always say 'Dublin haven't lost in that period' – it's not Brian Fenton's record. That's what I'm saying in my own head. No, it's Dublin, and I'm part of it.
"It will happen and you'd like to think when it comes that you'll be gracious in defeat as well, because that's important. There's no doubt it's been great but it's been Dublin's record and I've been lucky to be a part of it."
As unlikely as the prospect of defeat appears, with bookmakers offering fairly short odds on a Dublin 10-in-a-row, Fenton is preparing to make the most of any loss:
"The day will come when we, I lose, and so be it. You almost get to…I'm not looking forward to it, but the lads who lost in 2014 [to Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final], they got so much from that.
"Gearoid [Hegarty, Limerick hurler] would have said similar about 2019 when they were beaten [by Kilkenny]. It's almost a good thing. It presses re-set buttons and pushes you on a bit more, although success pushes me on as well.
"I'm not dreading it. It's going to happen, that's sport, that's Gaelic football. I hope that if that experience occurs I'll bring my standards on again, and I'll respond appropriately, and the team will respond appropriately and we'll learn something from it. It's going to happen but hopefully it's not any time soon."
In the meantime, Fenton will continue setting himself targets, explaining that his aims are realistic, not sky-high: "I wouldn't ever have written down 'Win Player Of The Year Twice' as a goal. That's not a thing.
"For me it will be more than when we get back training, I'll be trying to catch Ciarán Kilkenny in the fitness tests. That's the kind of thing – bring it back to more of the micro level, things that you can achieve and are tangible.
"You look back over the year and go, 'Did I dominate every game?' Absolutely not. 'Was I poor in some games?' Yeah, in parts. Those little moments you try and tweak, skills-based stuff, that's the kind of thing you'd be looking at. But the overall, the idea is just to be better."
Indeed Fenton has taken inspiration from someone who rarely gets a Championship game, Dublin's back-up goalkeeper:
"Evan Comerford is doing analysis and he's coming to you with ideas for kick-outs and 'Clucko' is playing and starting and still Evan is there doing all this background work and analysis on opposition teams.
"So when he's coming to you with suggestions, you're thinking, 'There's always something more I can do as a player, as a leader, on the pitch and off the pitch.'
"So goals from a sporting sense would be to try and improve and push on and be better, maybe to dominate games a bit more, be more consistent in games, potentially stuff like that…
"I know no different. [Former manager] Jim Gavin used to say, 'Burn your trophies.' Why would I want this to end? I just want to be better than I was this year.
"I'm just about to turn 28, I'm in a good spot, no injuries, why couldn't I be better again next year? I'm just trying to push on as much as I can."
Another target might be to match the six Allstars tally of legendary Kerry midfielder Jack O'Shea, with whom Fenton has been compared favourably – and from whom he was thrilled to receive a congratulatory message:
"I actually got a text from 'Jacko' [on Saturday night] which blew my mind to be honest. When you get a text like that you think this is hardly real… I've never met him but my dad is obviously a Kerry man and he talks so highly of 'Jacko'….
"It was just lovely. I said to my sister at the time that I hope to think that in 30/40 years' time I will text someone and congratulate them because it meant so much to me and it was such a touch of class from him."
