Former Dublin star Bryan Cullen has no regrets over his decision to retire from intercounty football.

The current Leinster rugby strength and conditioning coach admits that the fact that he had become a somewhat peripheral figure under Jim Gavin made his decision an easier one:

"In an ideal world everyone wants to go out on a high. In reality, it doesn't happen, for most athletes. Most footballers, generally, finish up on the bench. That's what happened me," he is quoted in The Irish Times.

"It was a very difficult decision, with a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, mentally. But I'm happy with my decision, happy I made the right call. Had I been more involved, it definitely would have been harder to walk away. But I suppose the way things had gone for me in the last two years, also getting a little bit busier in work as well, I just felt it was the right thing for me to do.

"But I had a fabulous 12 years playing for Dublin, and I'm lucky enough to be walking away with a bunch of provincial medals, national league titles, and a couple of All-Ireland medals. I felt I wasn't chasing any titles towards the end of my career . . . so I suppose that made my decision a little bit easier.

"And as I said a couple of weeks ago, the enjoyment I got out of it was always playing football. I had a fairly reduced role under Jim Gavin, over the last couple of years, and I haven't got to play much football. And when you're 30, looking ahead to another three or four years playing, you want to play as much football as you can."

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