The GAA public of Dublin are reeling after the shock announcement on Tuesday morning of Brian Fenton's retirement from inter-county football.
Raheny man Fenton steps away from the Dublin panel at the age of just 31 but with one of the most loaded trophy cabinets in the history of Gaelic football.
Fenton arrived in senior inter-county football in spectacular fashion in 2015, having won an under-21 All-Ireland the previous year. In his first season with the Dubs, he was named an All-Star and man of the match in Dublin's All-Ireland victory over Kerry - the first of seven Celtic Crosses Fenton would claim during his career.
To go with his seven All-Irelands, Fenton was a six-time All-Star, was twice named Footballer of the Year, and was a ten-time Leinster champion. Remarkably, in his ten years with Dublin, he never lost a single provincial championship game.
His retirement leaves a gaping hole in the centre of the Dublin team, as he follows James McCarthy in exiting stage left.
Though McCarthy's exit was expected (as is the prospective retirements of Stephen Cluxton), Fenton's bombshell announcement has hit Dublin for six. His former teammate Paul Flynn went so far on Tuesday as to describe it as an "unrecoverable" blow for Dessie Farrell's team.
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Paul Flynn thinks Brian Fenton retirement could be "catastrophic" for Dublin
11 August 2018; Brian Fenton of Dublin, left, and Paul Flynn after during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Dublin and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Paul Flynn won five All-Irelands alongside Brian Fenton in the immortal Dublin team that became the first to claim five-in-a-row in the 2010s.
After Fenton's shock retirement was confirmed on Tuesday morning, Flynn was drafted in by Second Captains to react to his ex-teammate's exit. The four-time All-Star winner was dejected in assessing what the loss of one of Gaelic football's all-time greats could mean for Dublin.
I haven't even really been able to compartmentalise my thinking as to who this impacts the most. Even though I heard the mumblings, I was just like, "Ah nah, that ain't gonna happen."
The blow to Dublin is literally unrecoverable. If they had lost four or five players, I still believe that they could have built a competitive team with Fento in midfield. You could actually regenerate the squad with him there because he's so good he'll at least have a presence in midfield, fill in a couple of centre roles and carry a couple of players.
With him gone, it's catastrophic, it's actually unrecoverable.
Fenton never lost a single game in the Leinster championship, one of the most remarkable stats of a remarkable inter-county career.
Dublin have lost only one game in the championship since 2004, an unprecedented stranglehold in the province. It is a record that Flynn boldly claimed could be under threat without the influence of Fenton in 2025.
I would go as far as saying they will be under pressure in Leinster. If I'm Ger Brennan now, if I'm Robbie Brennan going in at Meath, if I'm Brian Flanaganin Kildare, you're getting confidence from this, you're sniffing blood.
Okay, it's not a slam dunk, but they're coming back to the pack something fierce with James McCarthy and Brian Fenton gone.
Though the image of Dublin losing a Leinster championship game may be hard to fathom, there is a firm sense that an era has ended with several lynchpins of the dynasty starting to step away.
More players may yet announce their intention to retire, but it's hard to imagine any posing more of a blow to Dublin than Brian Fenton.
You can listen to the full chat with Paul Flynn on Tuesday's episode of Second Captains here.
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