Defender Dan Murray has retired from SSE Airtricity League of Ireland football, due to work and family commitments.

Over the course of his two spells with the club, the 33-year-old captained City to the Premier Division title (2005), the FAI Cup (2007) and the Setanta Sports Cup (2008), and is also the club’s top scorer in European competition.

City boss John Caulfield paid tribute to Murray, saying: “Unfortunately, Dan has decided to take a step back. Last year proved difficult for him from a training point of view because he has a young family and a full-time job, and his work doesn’t allow him to train as often as he would like. As much as we were trying to work around it for next year, Dan has acknowledged that it would be almost impossible for him to train to the levels we are at and he has decided to step back.”

“I would like to wish him all the best because, in the two years I have been here, he was phenomenal for me. When I came in, he’d had a difficult season the season before, but he has been involved in every game. It’s with a heavy heart that we confirm he is leaving, because I was hoping that he might be able to stay on, but things have changed and he just can’t give the commitment that we are looking for going forward. On behalf of everyone at the club, I would like to wish him the very best of luck in the future and congratulate him for being such a fantastic player for this club.”