Dunne brings curtain down on 15-year Offaly career

Offaly football stalwart Nigel Dunne is stepping away from inter-county football after a career that spanned 15 years.

Confirming his retirement to RTÉ Sport today, the 35-year old said he could no longer battle persistent injuries and deprive a younger Offaly player a place on match-day panels.

The Shamrocks clubman made his debut for the Faithful in 2010 and stepped away previously before being brought back into the fold by the late Liam Kearns.

For the past number of seasons Dunne has been battling acute tendonitis in his right ankle, but was convinced to remain part of the Offaly set-up last year by Declan Kelly and again this season by both Kelly and his co-manager Mickey Harte.

He managed around 70 minutes of game time in this year's league campaign, notching 0-07.

After defeat to Meath in the Leinster championship, he made the decision to hang up the boots.

Nigel Dunne with his son Óige after Offaly's victory in this year's Division 3 final

"I do so with no regrets," he told RTÉ Sport.

"I gave it everything I had for as long as I could, and genuinely the body can’t go for one minute longer than it has with the load that is required for intercounty football.

"I am a lot happier walking around now these past few days that there is no mental anguish internally. I’m just relieved to have made the call."

Dunne says he let his heart rule his head in deciding to go again for 2025.

"After a few running sessions in December I felt sore and said to the management that I could leave, but I was swayed maybe by the reassurance that it was pre-season and that level of training would ease off," he says.

"Then three or four games into the league I came on for 20 minutes against Antrim and while I did fine and scored three points, I remember saying to Dad that night that I was done.

"I met Declan the week after and again I have such time for him that after listening to him I decided I would hang on.

"Against Kildare in the league final and against Meath in the championship I didn’t play. People were saying to me that I should have got game time, but in my mind I was embarrassed to be on the 26 (match-day panel) because the management were 100% right not to bring me on.

"I shouldn’t have taken a young lad’s spot on the panel based on the credit I had in the bank over the years."

Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Watch a provincial football final double-header, Kerry v Clare (1.45pm) and Mayo v Galway (4pm) on Sunday from 1.15pm. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.

Click here to read article