Family and work commitments have left Galway footballer James Kavanagh with no choice but to bring the curtain down on his inter-county career.

The Galway-based Garda transferred from his native Kildare to the Tribesmen 12 months ago but, with a young family, he has decided not to make his services available to new manager Kevin Walsh.

"I've given it enough, I have given it as much as I can," the 29-year-old told The Irish Independent.

"Between work and family now I just don't have the five or six days to give it that you need for inter-county."

Kavanagh's year was plagued by hamstring, quad and groin injuries and he added: "It was the first year ever that I had such injuries. I have always had a bit of knee trouble but I've always been able to get by on it. I might be getting old!

"I reckon it could have been a change of lifestyle. I'm getting home from training and I am not getting the full night's sleep.

"I'm not saying the kids have me up all night but I'm doing other things rather than just training and going to work.

"I probably wasn't looking after myself outside of training as much as I needed to be. I was probably caught with injuries that I was never caught with."

Kavanagh's biggest regret is that he failed to get his hands on a Leinster SFC medal during his seven years with Kildare.

"I was reading Benny Coulter's reflection recently and that was something he was saying. He hadn't won a major title and we all know how good Benny is. It would have been nice to walk away and have a Leinster. It is disappointing."

Interestingly, he felt his adopted county were only "scratching the surface" compared to the training he did under Kieran McGeeney with Kildare but he expects new manager Walsh to shake things up.

Tweet

Most Read Stories