KEVIN CASSIDY: The retirement of two great servants

IT’S been some two weeks for inter-county retirements with the news breaking this week that Derry’s Chrissy McKaigue and Dublin’s Brian Fenton were calling it a day.

Let’s start with McKaigue and what a servant he has been to club and county over the last number of years. He has witnessed some dark days in a Derry jersey, but he was the foundation upon which they built their revival over the last number of years and his boots will be difficult to fill.

I’m sure the whole managerial saga didn’t help and perhaps it was the final nail in the coffin that made him hang up his boots.

There is no doubt that he will be sorely missed, but knowing the type of work that he is already doing in the background with his club, it won’t be long before we see him patrolling the sidelines with the Derry seniors.

The major shock this week came as Brian Fenton announced that he would be stepping away from inter-county football at the age of 31.

Now, when you look at what he has won in the game, you can understand why he may take this decision because there is very little else left for him to achieve.

Having said that, it leaves a massive void in the Dublin set-up because he was so central to everything that was good about Dublin football for the past 10 or 12 years.

I have to admit that I wasn’t overly shocked myself because over the last number of years I have gotten to know Brian a little bit so I am aware of his interest outside of the football pitch.

He loves to travel, he loves his music and he loves living life in general. From time to time, I would drop him the odd message if I was having a beer somewhere or maybe away somewhere as I know he’s a man who likes to relax and visit interesting places.

Like all of that Dublin panel, they are so grounded it’s unbelievable. I asked him before the 2023 All-Ireland final if he would send me a short video for our u-9s who were heading to play in a tournament.

He started to introduce himself as “Brian Fenton here, I am one of the Dublin footballers”. You have to understand this man had already won six All-Irelands medals, five All-Stars and was twice named as Player of the Year.

I remember watching that clip and smiling to myself and saying “that is why this Dublin team are so hard to beat”.

No matter what that group achieved, their feet remained firmly on the ground. Fenton’s absence will be a huge blow for Dublin in 2025.

The harsh reality is that no matter how successful teams and players are, there will come a point when they want to live a normal life that doesn’t require so many personal sacrifices.

We have lost perhaps one of the best ever but we cannot begrudge the man for wanting to live his life a little, so all the best to him.

This week, on the pitch there are two massive games in the Ulster Club. The competition has reached the semi-final stages where we have two very interesting clashes.

On Saturday evening, Scotstown take on Kilcoo in what should be an absolute cracker and then on Sunday Armagh champions Clann Éireann take on Tyrone hotshots Errigal Ciaran.

I have watched all four teams at some stage this year and I have been really impressed with them all.

When looking at potential winners of the competition, I’m leaning towards Scotstown and Errigal. I think that both of those teams will have the right amount of hunger and footballing ability to make it through their respective semi-finals this weekend. I’m going for Scotstown by three and Errigal by four.