GALWAY FORWARD SEAN Armstrong has announced his retirement from inter-county football.

“I don’t see myself returning to the fold in January and that will be it for me then,” he told Colm Keys in Wednesday’s Irish Independent. “I haven’t the same love for it that I once had.”

The Salthill-Knocknacarra man shot to prominence with a hattrick in the 2005 All-Ireland U21 final win against Down, and he went on to win a Connacht senior title later that year and again in 2008.

Armstrong fell out of favour under Alan Mullholland last season and had to make do with substitute cameos in the Championship.

After discussing his future with new manager Kevin Walsh, he decided to follow team-mate James Kavanagh and hang up his boots.

“To go back into the fold, in my eyes, you need to be 100% committed to the cause,” he said.

“I don’t want to go back even 80% or 90%, feeling that if I go back in I’ll get the grá back, I’ll get motoring. It would just be unfair to everyone involved.”

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