Paul Flynn: 'Dublin will be under pressure in Leinster' without Brian Fenton

COMPLETE REBUILD: Paul Flynn thinks the Dublin footballers will require a total reset following the retirement of Brian Fenton. Picture: ©INPHO/James Crombie

Paul Flynn believes the retirement of Brian Fenton leaves the Dublin footballers in a "literally unrecoverable" situation for the foreseeable future.

"If they had lost four or five players, I still believe they could have built a competitive team with Fento at midfield," the six-time All-Ireland winner told the Second Captains podcast.

"Selfishly, I'm looking at it saying this guy is at the peak of his powers. It's not a case where you look back at any of the real generational players over the last while who have left the game and say they might have got a little bit more out of it or you think they could play a role. 

"There is no better midfielder in the country, arguably no better player - he is in the top three consistently since he's played really. Even last year he was awesome.

"You could actually regenerate the squad with him there because he is so good. He would at least have a presence in midfield, fill in the centre roles and you can carry a couple of players.

"With him gone, it's catastrophic, actually unrecoverable. I would go as far as saying Dublin will be under pressure in Leinster. If I'm Ger Brennan, Robbie Brennan, Brian Flanagan in Kildare, you're getting confidence from this and sniffing blood. 

"You're not saying it's a slam dunk but Dublin are coming back to the pack something fierce with James McCarthy and Brian Fenton gone."

Flynn expects there to be further retirements from the Dublin panel.

"The mumblings that were going on last week were there were a couple of people who were going to be leaving. Names weren't put out there so there could be more to follow. 

"If anyone was sitting on the fence and now Fento goes, they are just probably going to go because they would know how important a player he is to Dublin. I'd be surprised if there weren't any more (retirements).

"There is no doubt in my mind that Dublin will not be the same force they were over the last decade. It will be a complete rebuild."