Tyrone defender all but confirms club switch to Athy and reveals thoughts on playing for Kildare

Tyrone defender Cathal McCarron has all but confirmed that he is planning on play club football with Athy next year, stating that it is “something we’ll look at when the football’s over this year”.

The Dromore clubman tweeted last Sunday evening to say that he had played his last game for the club, fueling speculation about where he might be going, and Athy club chairman Marty McEvoy stated that the club would be happy to have him on board if he decided to transfer.

McCarron's girlfriend is from the town and the former All-Ireland winner also lived there while he was undergoing rehabilitation for a gambling addiction at the Cuin Mhuire treatment facility. The Red Hands defender has taken Athy as his adopted home, and he has described how Geraldine Park is just on his doorstep in the south Kildare town.

“Where I live in Athy, I could fall out of bed and into the football pitch,” McCarron told the Irish News.

“Athy’s a great club, one of the top clubs in Kildare, so just because I’m moving place doesn’t mean I don’t want to be competitive at club level as well. Of course I do.

“It’s on my doorstep, I know all the lads down here, I’ve spent a bit of time down here before… it’s a home away from home.”

Inevitably, it has started to get people talking about a possible switch from the red and white of Tyrone to the all white of Kildare, but McCarron has quashed those ideas.

“I’m not going to leave my county to play for another county,” he said.

“When I hang up my county boots, I’ll be hanging them up with Tyrone and that’ll be it.

“I haven’t made any decision yet but if things are right and it feels good then yeah, definitely, I’d like to continue.

“I know it’s not easy with the travelling but you only get one shot at this in life and if I hung up the inter-county boots, I probably would be sitting looking on knowing you could be still playing.

“I’d be kicking myself, I just know I would.”