Dublin midfielder Brian Fenton believes criticism of his manager Jim Gavin is out of order.
The Round Towers clubman guided the Boys in Blue to a third All Ireland title in a row - after beating Mayo in the final last month.
Sunday Independent writer Paul Kimmage criticised Gavin’s actions in the wake of the All Ireland final claiming he showed a lack of grace.
Kimmage bemoaned what he perceived to be a slight during Gavin post match press conference
Appearing on Off The Ball’s Sunday Paper review he claimed the Dublin manager showed a lack of empathy towards Mayo and branded his actions in his press conference as disrespectful.
“Look, don't come in. Don't come in. If you have (disdain for the media) don't come in and do it (the press conference).
“Don't sit there and treat us like idiots. Don't sit there and be disdainful of the Mayo players and the Mayo people the way he did, the lack of empathy.”
Fenton responded to the remarks in a sit down interview with Jamie Moore on 98FM’s Now That’s What I Call Sport:
“It’s madness to be honest the perception we don’t talk to the media. Jim is Jim.“I read another article that it’s feeding into his ego to not talk to the media, that’s completely made up fairy-tales.
“We as players want to live by the Dublin values; we want to create a culture in the group that we can maybe pass on to younger generations and minors.
“One of my fondest memories was after the Leinster final, the Dublin minors were playing that day and we met them out.
“We’re all one group, we may come from different clubs but the media seem to have this perception that Dublin are doing their own thing.
“I completely disagree players are thankfully very humble, we’re all about trying to put the jersey in a better place and that’s cliché but that’s what we live by.
“We hope in 10 years time people might look back and say that fella Brian Fenton or Ciaran Kilkenny or John Small, they were good guys who really did their best for Dublin football.
“For us its winning medals (the primary focus) anything after that is secondary, we don’t have to talk to the media it’s no obligation really but hopefully they might look back and say they were good guys who did their best for Dublin football.”
