Long-serving Down player Liam Doyle is set to announce his retirement from inter-county football while Dan Gordan and Ambrose Rodgers have yet to commit to the Mourne County cause.
The Irish Times reports that new manager Jim McCorry will have to plan without the services of the former captain whose career was blighted by a catalogue of injuries.
Doyle made his debut in 2000 having captained the Mourne County to Ulster and All-Ireland minor honours in 1999.
The son of 1968 All-Ireland winning centre-back Willie Doyle was handed the honour of captaincy in 2007 but sustained a cruciate ligament injury in the 2008 Ulster championship clash against Armagh in Clones that confined him to the sidelines for two years.
He missed out on Down's march to the 2010 Sam Maguire Cup decider but made a welcome return to the county fold the following year. Last year he featured just once as a substitute in the All-Ireland SF qualifier victory over Leitrim.
Ambrose Rodgers, meanwhile, remains undecided over his Down future.
"I'm playing away with the club, taking a break and I'm enjoying the time away from it, the big midfielder said, "I honestly don't know what I'll be doing at the moment."
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