The 27-year-old's wife Linda is expecting the couple's first child and they are building a new house in Milltown, Galway.

The move west, allied to Kavanagh's application for a work transfer from his current Garda base of Crumlin, has fuelled speculation that the forward was about to link up with the Tribesmen.

He grew up in Galway, as did his wife, and played for St. Jarlath's College in Tuam in the early 2000s. He won a Leinster title with the Kildare U-21s in 2004 and made his senior debut for the Lilywhites the following year.

But in an interview with the Kildare Nationalist, Kavanagh has dismissed talk of an inter-county transfer and suggested that his Kildare career is not over just yet.

"There is nothing there with Galway at all. It’s obviously going to be said because I’m moving to Galway and leaving Kildare but there’s nothing in that at all," he told the local newspaper.

"I am disappointed to be leaving the lads I have trained with for a long time. A bit of you feels that you’re leaving them down.

"But I have to make a decision and I feel I’ve made the right decision for now. Whatever comes down the road, we’ll see but this is the way it has to be for the moment."

He added: "Linda’s due our first child at the end of February and we’ve a house as good as built down here in Milltown and with me being on shift work in Crumlin as well, it was all becoming a bit too much for me.

"I just feel that I couldn’t give 100% at the moment and this level, it’s all or nothing.

"I wouldn’t consider myself retired. I just need to take a step back. I’ve been travelling up and down the road to Galway the last couple of years and it was tough but I was managing it. But circumstances have changed now.

"I just feel I have come to a stage now where I need to get a few things sorted and down in concrete before I can go back and get going again."