Kilkenny defender John Dalton has become the fifth player from the 2011 squad to announce his retirement.

Dalton follows in the footsteps of Michael Kavanagh, PJ Ryan, Cha Fitzpatrick and Eddie Brennan in calling time on their inter-county careers and is a further blow to Kilkenny's chances of defending their All-Ireland title this year.

The Carrickshock clubman's decision to retire comes as a major surprise as he is only 26-years-old; the same age as Cha Fitzpatrick and another retiree Michael Kavanagh admits that he hopes this is the last of the withdrawals.

"I don't know what's in the air but it's [retirement] becoming very popular - hopefully that's the end of it now," Kavanagh told the Irish Examiner. "John's case is different to mine; he's still in his prime. You have to be totally selfish now to play at inter-county, everything must revolve around it. It's pretty much a full-time commitment for about nine months of the year and everyone around you must be prepared to accept that."

Dalton joined the team during the 2006 championship; however, it took two years before he became a regular member of the starting fifteen. Since then he has won five All-Ireland winner's medals. Tweet

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