Cathy Carey: Antrim captain retires from inter-county football
- Published
Carey helped Antrim win the Division Four final last year to seal promotion to Division Three for the first time in the county's history
Antrim captain Cathy Carey has announced her retirement from inter-county football.
The 33-year old has been involved with the Saffrons for 22 years, winning three All-Ireland junior titles during that time.
Carey also helped Antrim beat Leitrim in the National Football League Division Four final last season.
"It's other people's time to play and represent the county, I've kind of done my service," she told the LGFA.
"I'm pushing on a wee bit. It has been 20 odd years of playing senior county and we've good underage coming through.
"In terms of whether I'd be physically ready, I probably would be, but I just felt it was time to finish up there."
The St Ergnat's Moneyglass player made her debut in 2002 and featured off the bench for Antrim's first All-Ireland junior championship win against Limerick in 2009.
She then played half-forward as the Saffrons beat Louth in the same competition three years later.
Carey scored 2-1 as captain in the 2022 final replay as Antrim defeated Fermanagh to claim their third All-Ireland junior crown.
Alongside winning the Division Four and Ulster intermediate titles last year, Emma Kelly's side also lost narrowly against Clare at the semi-final stage of the All-Ireland intermediate championship, in what proved to be Carey's last game.
"I kind of started thinking about it [retiring] midway through last season. Then getting towards the end of the season, I started to talk about it a wee bit," admitted Carey.
"It has been a long stint, but that is probably what made the decision harder."
Reflecting on her distinguished county career, Carey counts the 1-19 to 2-6 victory against Leitrim in the Division Four final as her proudest achievement as Antrim sealed promotion to Division Three for the first time in their history.
"That was probably the biggest thing for me because there had been so many years that we had been so close to getting out of Division Four and we just never did it," she explained.
"The All-Ireland was really special, the Ulster is really special, but that Division Four title, a few of us had been slogging along for a good few years. It was nearly more of a relief than anything to get out of it."