Kieran Donaghy says he expects inter-county players to start retiring at an earlier age in years to come.

The four-time All-Ireland SFC winner is currently mulling over his own future ahead of Kerry's upcoming 2017 campaign and believes that the likes of team mate Colm Cooper and Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton are a dying breed when it comes to the duration of their glittering careers.

"Guys like Tomas O Se, Marc O Se, Gooch, Stephen Cluxton will never be seen again," Donaghy is quoted saying in the Daily Star Sunday.

"There is no way fellas are going to be able to last that long in inter-county football because the demands are simply too great. So I just can't see how there will be another career like Stephen Cluxton's or Marc's, where a player will chalk up 15 years at the highest level.

"To start with, it's rare enough for anyone to get the chance when they are a teenager. And I just can't believe players will be prepared to be committed all the way into their 30s because that would mean putting their work and family lives on hold.

"These guys are the last of a generation.

"I remember trying to persuade Tomas to stay on and delay his retirement (O Se called time the following day after Kerry's All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Dublin in 2013). But he had made his mind up - and was comfortable with the decision.

"Yet the year after he stopped playing, we won another All-Ireland. That's why it is tricky knowing when to go."

On his own decision on whether or not to carry on in the Kingdom colours next season, the Austin Stacks man said: "Knowing whether to stay or go is a hard call - and one I want to get right."

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