Nearly six years on from his intercounty retirement and James Masters is still harbouring some regrets. It's not just the life of a Cork footballer he misses, but also the realisation the game had moved irretrievably beyond him.

Sunday's Munster club football final with Nemo Rangers offers some solace, although still only 33, Masters looks at the intercounty game now and reckons he did well to get to 27 before retiring.

Still, he left the Cork panel voluntarily in March 2010, and six months later Cork won the All-Ireland.

At his peak, however, Masters was central to the Cork team, scoring 6-80 in his 26 championship appearances:

“I suppose there would definitely be some regrets,” he says. “It was a hard enough time because Cork would have obviously won the All-Ireland and so many players that I played with that won.

The decision

“But there was more to it than meets the eye. I felt myself that I wasn’t getting a run and stuff like that. That was why the decision was made in the end. . . We played two games down in Páirc Uí Rinn and I was probably one of the only subs not used and I couldn’t understand that.

“For me, it’s all about playing. I know that sounds bad because when I’m playing with Nemo, and I’ve been injured the last couple of months, it’s all about the team and stuff like that. But with the county I just felt like I wanted to play all of the time and felt I was getting a bit hard done by.”

Now he reckons the retirement age of intercounty players is coming down all the time, and that club commitments are almost at the same level now as they were with the county during his time.

“I made my decision, and maybe it was a bit stubborn of me that I didn’t go back on it. But I was in the guards too and the days of maybe shift work and labouring and working the buildings and that, I don’t think you can do it anymore. I think you have to be a teacher in college or a cushy number or something like that.

“The hardest thing for me is my job and shift work, which I still find very hard. We do the four nights (as a guard) and that’s probably the hardest thing. With the club this year I’ve also had a whole host of injuries and I’ve been on and off the team because of them. I’ve got hip problems . . . if I can play a small part and get a point or two I’ll be delighted.”

Masters believes the GAA needs to move quickly to balance the calendar back in favour of the clubs.

“Since I finished with Cork, I’ve definitely seen the negativity with clubs. You’re playing your first round in April and then you’re not playing until July or August. I think it’s definitely turning off footballers. I know it might not be fully out there but anyone that I talk to they are more or less sick of it. They’re playing one game and then taking a break and going back into pre-season training again in the likes of May and June and not knowing when they are playing.”

"But there was no hard feelings between myself and Conor Counihan. I rang him at the time and he said 'fine', if I wanted to come back I was to ring him."