‘Derry defender Chrissy McKaigue has retired from inter-county football after 15 seasons.
Having made his championship debut in 2008, the former Derry skipper departs the county scene with two Ulster SFC titles, a Division 1 League crown and an All-Star.
The 35-year-old informed new Derry boss Paddy Tally of his decision in recent days and the Slaughtneil clubman feels now is an appropriate time to step aside.
“The time is right. I have been thinking about iy for some time. I spoke to Paddy, and echoed my feelings to him early so we could move forward in our respective future endeavours,” McKaigue told RTÉ.
“I just wanted to have everything straight from the start of the new regime, with no uncertainty and no speculation over the winter.
“It’s mid-November and coming out with this decision now with this certainty allows the team and management to move forward.
“Getting my body right, embracing all the aspects of modern training and getting my mind right, it has been hard work over 15 years with Derry. My gut says now is the right time to step aside.”
Slaughtneil will now become his “main focus”, but he hopes Derry will “reunite under this team and management” after their four-month search for Mickey Harte’s replacement ended with Tally’s ratification last week.
Missing out on an All-Ireland SFC title is “something that will stay with me”, but McKaigue takes great solace from the fact that he did everything possible to try and reach the game’s summit.
One of the game’s finest man-markers, McKaigue admits that he came off second-best in some high-profile duels in recent years and that played a part in his decision too.
“I found it mentally tough and exhausting to mark those marquee names,” he said.
“I spoke to people that I trusted in how to go about the process and studied lots of video tape and material, but mentally, it was absolutely exhausting, over a long period of time too.
“I knew the pressure that came with it, but people didn’t really want to know how your body was – they just expected you to churn out personal bests every time you took on a big player.
“And if I am being honest, in the last wee while I wasn’t winning as many of those battles as I once had.”