Muir not ready to hang up boots

The 34-year-old defender has left the Showgrounds to re-join crisis club Lisburn Distillery after his contract with Ballymena was terminated by mutual consent.

Muir returned from the Whites for a second spell at his hometown club in last January's transfer window and his experience proved vital in helping the Sky Blues climb clear of the relegation trapdoor.

But this season has seen the centre-back endure the most injury-plagued campaign of his career, making just three senior appearances and with a host of central defenders for Roy Walker to choose from, Paul decided it was time to move on.

"I just felt it was the right thing to do – anyone who knows me will know I couldn't just pick up a wage and not play.

"As much as I enjoyed playing for Colin Sewell and the Reserves when I was coming back from injury, I need, at 34, to be playing first team football.

"I've signed for Distillery until the end of the season and hopefully I can put myself in the shop window because I want to play at the highest level for as long as possible. Distillery is obviously familiar to me after so many seasons there and I can go straight in without needing to get settled in.

"It also gets me off Ballymena's wage bill which will maybe enable Roy to wheel and deal a bit, so it suited all parties."

Muir scored Ballymena's first goal of the season in a County Antrim Shield game against Harland and Wolff Welders, but in that same game, he sustained a partial tear of his cruciate ligament which sidelined him for several weeks.

"I probably pushed myself too hard and when I came back, I strained my calf within 30 seconds of my first game but played on and that set me back as well. The injuries this season have broken my heart.

"I've played 550-odd senior games in 15 seasons, which works out around 35 games a season, but I haven't come close to that average in the past year at Ballymena.

"But I had a lot of enjoyable moments like scoring in my first home game against Dungannon but the best part was probably scoring the winner at Coleraine because coming from Ballymena, I knew how much that meant to the fans.

"I was really looking forward to starting this season with a clean slate but it turned into a nightmare with the injuries. I genuinely thought at the start of the season that we could do something but I think we suffered a bit from a lack of experienced heads at times.

"In the longer-term I would like to get into coaching or management but for now, I want to play at the top level for as long as I can," added Paul.