By Paul Keane

Brian Fenton set himself a private goal when he was initially called up to the Dublin football squad early last year - to still be on the panel at the end of the season.

But a little like Padraig Harrington who dreamed initially of merely being a 'journeyman' golfer, Fenton wildly exceeded his own personal expectations and has already etched his place in Irish sporting history.

In just two seasons he has played a key role in back to back All-Ireland, league and Leinster successes for Dublin and is highly fancied to claim consecutive AllStar awards also.

Fenton's power packed midfield performances throughout the Championship have marked him out as the favourite to be named Player of the Year.

The nephew of an Olympic swimmer, Fenton, 23, spent plenty of time in the pool himself as a youngster before focusing on Gaelic football, a move which has paid off in quite spectacular fashion.

As things stand, has never lost a senor Championship game as a Dublin player and powered the U-21s to All-Ireland success in 2014.

"It's insane, it's madness," smiled Fenton. "It was 18 months ago I made my league debut and I was just hoping to last the year on the panel at that stage. Now look at it - two Sam Maguires, a couple of Leinsters, it's incredible!

"A few of the lads have four All-Irelands at this stage so there's always something more to aspire to in this game and hopefully I can keep achieving. But yeah, it's special, special times and I don't take it for granted."

Fenton hails from the Raheny club and grew up watching stablemate Ciaran Whelan forge his own career in the Dublin midfield. Unfortunately for Whelan, he played in that period between 1995 and 2011 when the Sky Blues failed to win an All-Ireland.

"A lot of it is timing, no doubt about that," said Fenton. "Look at Ciaran, one of the best players for Dublin, but who played in such a barren period.

"Someone said it to me at the banquet on Saturday evening that some of the best players who ever played for Dublin played in that same era and didn't win an All-Ireland. So I won't take this for granted. It's very special."

Fenton was partnered in midfield by Paul Flynn for Saturday's All-Ireland final replay date with Mayo, a tactical switch that took just about everyone by surprise.

"Jim Gavin only named the team on Thursday night when we met," he explained. "It was a surprise for sure but Paul is such an adaptable player, and so versatile, he can play anywhere.

"It was an exciting move and Paul's so good going forward and defensively that you could see the logic in it. No matter what position you're in, you're told to do a job and and that's it and Paul got stuck into his in fairness to him."

Fenton has already been included in the Sunday Game TV show's Team of the Year and was picked out as their overall Footballer of the Year. It bodes well for the actual awards which will be handed out next month.

"It's a huge honour and a privilege to be talked about like this, especially playing alongside the likes of Diarmuid Connolly and Ciaran Kilkenny," said Fenton. "I genuinely don't know why they're not getting all the plaudits. They're probably better footballers than me. But yeah, it's special for me and my family and my club.

"These things are all little bonuses really, at the start of Saturday's game it wasn't about being RTE Player of the Year, it was about winning Sam Maguire and keeping it in Dublin. Once we got that part done, it was job completed for me. All the other stuff comes second."

Shortly, the draws will be made for next year's provincial championships and thoughts will inevitably turn to Dublin's three-in-a-row challenge.

Yet it's just a fortnight ago that nobody was quite sure if Dublin deserved to be spoken of in such reverential terms after a poor performance in the drawn final.

"There was a lot of questions thrown our way," agreed Fenton. "Were we as good as people thought? It's just great to have answered those questions and to have got the win."