18-TIME ALL-IRELAND SENIOR champion Rena Buckley has confirmed her retirement from inter-county football and camogie.
The veteran dual star sat down with independent.ie this weekend to share her thoughts, saying that she ‘wants the chance to give more of her time to the people in her life’.
And Buckley this afternoon confirmed to The42 that she ‘won’t be returning to Cork’ but she’ll continue to play her club camogie with Inniscarra and club football with Donoughmore.
The Cork legend bows out from the inter-county scene following a glittering career which she capped in Croke Park last September, captaining the camogie side to All-Ireland glory and subsequently becoming the most decorated player in Gaelic Games with a phenomenal 18th Celtic Cross.
Buckley opted to concentrate solely on the small ball game at inter-county level last year, but through the years she collected a remarkable 11 All-Ireland senior football medals.
The 31-year-old also has 10 All-Stars — five camogie and five football — to her name.
While on the TG4 All-Star Tour to Bangkok in March, football boss Ephie Fitzgerald confirmed that she would not line out in 2018 but her inter-county camogie future was unclear.
'I want the chance to give more of my time to the people in my life' - Rena Buckley; 18 All-Irelands, dual star, legend. https://t.co/ixyh6tkbVR
— WGPA (@WomensGPA) May 21, 2018
👏@RenaBucks (Via @Independent_ie) pic.twitter.com/ZRHL5wXDso
“Look, in every person’s life, you only have a certain amount of time, there’s limited hours you can give to what you want to do,” she told Joe O’Shea.
“For a long number of years, I’ve given sport a huge chunk of my time. And I’ve arrived at the stage of my life now where I have other commitments, other things I want to do. And I have to make the choice.
“It’s not like I want to travel the world, or make massive changes in my life. But I want the chance to give more of my time to the people in my life.”
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