DAN MURRAY HAS ended his 13-year association with Irish football after announcing his retirement today.
The 33-year-old Englishman made a name for himself at Cork City, having joined from Peterborough United in 2002.
A no-nonsense centre-half, he would go on to win the Premier Division in 2005, the FAI Cup in 2007 and the Setanta Sports Cup in 2008.
Murray moved to Shamrock Rovers in 2010 and won two more league titles as well as captaining the Hoops on their European adventure in the Europa League group stages.
The former Rebels skipper returned to Cork in 2012 and has spent the last four seasons there.
Also the club’s all-time top scorer in Europe, Murray is hanging up his boots due to work and family commitments.
“Unfortunately, Dan has decided to take a step back,” said Rebels boss John Caulfield.
“Last year proved difficult for him from a training point of view because he has a young family and a full-time job, and his work doesn’t allow him to train as often as he would like.
“As much as we were trying to work around it for next year, Dan has acknowledged that it would be almost impossible for him to train to the levels we are at and he has decided to step back.”
I would like to wish him all the best because, in the two years I have been here, he was phenomenal for me. When I came in, he’d had a difficult season the season before, but he has been involved in every game.
Caulfield added: “It’s with a heavy heart that we confirm he is leaving, because I was hoping that he might be able to stay on, but things have changed and he just can’t give the commitment that we are looking for going forward.
“On behalf of everyone at the club, I would like to wish him the very best of luck in the future and congratulate him for being such a fantastic player for this club.”
