Micheál Burns withdraws from Kerry panel

All-Ireland winning Kerry player Micheál Burns has opted to withdraw from the county panel, manager Jack O'Connor confirmed this afternoon.

O'Connor told the Irish Examiner that Burns had decided to step away of his own volition.

"There comes a time in everyone's career where you have to make a decision is the effort worth the reward, and I think Micheál had come to that stage," said the Kingdom boss.

"What is he now, 27, he was a 2014 minor and I go back ten years with him, back to then, and he possibly didn't feel he was getting the game time that was going to keep him happy and motivated, and that leads to a discussion and that’s where he is.

"It is a very tricky situation and I had no falling out with Micheál or anything like that. I go back a long way with him, he got man of the match in an [All-Ireland] minor for me in 2014 and he played in the last two All-Ireland [senior] finals so it's not as if he wasn’t a significant player for us.

"But there comes a time in your career where the reward isn’t worth the effort and Micheál had just reached that point. I wish him well, he’s a great lad and I wouldn’t have a bad word to say about him,"

The 27-year old Dr Crokes' player appeared off the bench in the last two All-Ireland finals, replacing Stephen O'Brien in the final quarter on both occasions.

Since making his senior debut in 2018, Burns has made 23 championship appearances, although starts have been relatively few and far between, the most recent being the Munster championship demolition of Tipperary in 2021.

Burns did start at corner forward in Kerry's Round 1 league loss to Derry in Tralee late last month but was withdrawn for Conor Geaney at half-time.

He picked up an All-Ireland senior medal with Kerry in 2022, having