Kildare's Davy Dalton has announced his retirement from intercounty football. The brilliant full back, who won an All Star award last year, helped Kildare to their first Leinster win in 42 years last July. The 35-year-old said last night: "I am 100 per cent sure that I am going to retire. I am going to miss it but you have to go some time."

His intercounty career spanned 16 years and he is regarded as one of the finest defenders of his generation.