Alan Dillon to press on with Mayo

Alan Dillon has no plans to retire from inter-county football this year, having announced his commitment to play for Mayo in 2015 at an awards ceremony at the weekend.

The 32-year-old is one of the longest serving players on the Mayo senior football team, and following a number of high profile retirements around the country since the end of the inter-county season, there has been considerable speculation around Dillon's 2015 plans.

Dillon, an All Star in 2006 and 2012, played on the Mayo teams that lost All-Ireland finals in 2004, 2006, 2012 and 2013, and was a key part of the side that lost to Kerry following a replay in the All-Ireland semi-final in 2014. However, he confirmed at the Mayo News/O'Neills Club Stars on Saturday night that he would be sticking around next season.

"The body and mind are good at the minute," he said at the event, which took place at the Knockranny House Hotel in Westport. "It's very hard to walk away from something. You see a lot of the lads - hurlers and footballers - retiring this winter. I suppose that's something that I wasn't gonna do...we're close. Hopefully 2015 will be special."

Dillon paid tribute to outgoing manager James Horan, who stepped aside after four years in charge at the end of the season, and he outlined his hopes for new management team Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly.

"We put a phenomenal effort in the past four years, and credit to James and his back-room team, they were a huge influence. Hopefully next year, we've new voices in the dressing room, we can come again."

As the oldest member of the panel, Dillon's decision is a major boost to Mayo and it now looks likely that the county will have everybody available to them again in 2015.