Philly McMahon has revealed that his wife Sarah Lucey expecting their first baby was a big part in his decision to retire from inter-county football.
The eight-time All-Ireland winner announced he was walking away from the Dublin setup last month, with his other half set to give birth in two weeks.
McMahon also won 11 Leinster titles and two All-Stars in an incredibly successful career and played a vital role in The Boys in Blue winning six consecutive All-Irelands.
Explaining his reasons for retiring, the 34-year-old told Tommy Bowe and Muireann O’Connell on Ireland AM: “The first was my wife. When you’re looking back on a sporting career, I’m very lucky I play a sport I love. It started off as a hobby but your wife or your partner is the one that basically makes all the sacrifices.
“My wife Sarah is due a baby in two weeks and that was the big decider for me.”
He added: "Also, playing fourteen years is a long stint and you see you the lovely clips of running up and down Croke Park but the amount of hours you have to put in behind the scenes.
“The pain and suffering of training, every winter going back and to get to the stage where you can lift the Sam Maguire, it eventually takes a toll on your body, physically.
“Then also, you have to pass the jersey on eventually and make sure somebody else get a shot at the blue jersey.
“All of those variables definitely had an impact on the decision to hand up the boots.”
On what the future holds, he said: “The first thing is making sure that the time I now have available to myself is spent the right way.
“I lacked, in terms of, relationships and my loved ones and spending quality time with them. A percentage of that time will go towards them, but I’ve got options.
“I’m doing performance coaching for Bohemians and I’m looking to keep my options open, maybe coaching, maybe some media stuff.”
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