THE Antrim football and hurling championships will reach a dramatic climax over the next two Sundays but given everything that’s happened on and off the field you just wish they could run and keep on running.
But all good things come to an end.
This year’s Antrim Senior Hurling Championship has turned out to be a mesmerising, thrill-a-minute spectacle from the opening group matches to last week’s semi-final theatre in Dunsilly.
No wonder TG4 are heading back up to Ballycastle for this Sunday’s decider between defending champions Cuchullain’s Dunloy and Loughgiel Shamrocks.
Former Antrim Allstar Terence McNaughton has always had a way with words.
Casting an eye over this weekend’s final, he said: “Dunloy and Loughgiel would rather sell their children than lose to each other.”
When you talk about the pursuit of sporting excellence the Cuchullain’s jump out at you.
Their senior hurlers are aiming for a third Volunteer Cup in four years, their footballers reached the intermediate final in mid-week, the reserve footballers won their championship.
Ditto the reserve hurlers and the senior camogs take on Ballycastle tomorrow in the semi-finals.
After being put to the sword quite handily by Cushendall in the 2018 final, Loughgiel will want to erase that memory and claim their first title since 2016.
And if there weren't enough dramatic sub-plots, the indefatigable Liam 'Winker' Watson is back for an encore.
Both senior championships and indeed those in Down and Tyrone have provided great excitement, discussion points and debates.
As this damned Covid closes in again, every game that’s played becomes more precious.
For this reason and the devil-may-care approach of teams to this year’s condensed championship, the last eight weeks have been truly memorable days. Probably the most memorable in living memory.
Championship tickets have been more scarce than those in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
From the first day up in Shaw’s Road when the St John’s hurlers pipped O’Donovan Rossa to the following Sunday where Gregory O’Kane punched the air and had ‘Shorty’ Shiels in a celebratory arm-lock after they stole a share of the spoils against Rossa.
Up in the hills, ‘Skinner’ McAlister was setting all sorts of traps for St John’s and champions Dunloy before Rossa broke free and blitzed the McQuillan’s.
Images of Rossa manager Colly Murphy going ballistic on the sideline - and Mickey McCullough zen-like by comparison.
Tiarnan Murphy’s first touch. Michael Armstrong reaching ridiculous heights. Stephen Beatty playing with the kind of freedom his late father would have wanted.
Armstong versus Neil McManus. Shane McNaughton’s cameo appearance over in Loughgiel. The sportsmanship of Ruairi Ogs after falling to Rossa up on the Hightown Road was another bright light of 2020. Exemplary hurling people.
While condemned to the fifth floor of an empty Aviva Stadium last Sunday afternoon to watch Stephen Kenny’s work-in-progress Republic of Ireland team, the jaw-dropping action of Dunsilly via Facebook began to unfold.
Aodhan O’Brien’s piece of magic couldn’t break the champions Dunloy.
And take a bow the totemic Domhnall Nugent of St John’s. A man who climbs mountains to breathe, to conquer, to live and inspire.
Nobody will forget what big Domhnall did at Dunsilly last Sunday afternoon.
And that's the point about this year's championships - the magnificence found among the defeated.
The day before, the football championship took centre stage up at St Enda's, Glengormley - Cargin versus Lamh Dhearg, a repeat of last year's epic decider.
To watch county team-mates Declan Lynch and Tomas McCann lock horns on the edge of the square was worth the journey itself.
Pat Shivers' left foot can drive Cargin and Antrim to greater heights.
And what a travesty it would be if Mick McCann - controversially red-carded in the closing stages - was to miss Cargin's three-in-a-row assault for something that could have been sorted out with a hand-shake or a yellow card.
But just as Domhnall Nugent did the following day, Paddy Cunningham displayed the same kind of courage that will be remembered and will endure far longer than the result.
You can’t coach the kind of desire that Nugent and Cunningham possess. It’s either in you or it’s not. For years I’ve watched Cunningham’s career, mostly through the lens of Antrim.
Eleven summers have passed since he took the fight to Tyrone in the Ulster final at Clones. After four years away from the county set-up he returned to the fold under Lenny Harbinson earlier this year to aid the promotion push.
At 35, he has never been more competitive.
With Lamh Dhearg chasing the game in the closing minutes, Cunningham grabbed the kind of goal no other player on the pitch was capable of scoring.
Time had beaten Cunningham while in another contest Cargin beat Lamh Dhearg.
Maybe Covid19 has merely given us a deeper appreciation of our games and the people who play them.
It gives us something to talk about. It takes our minds off a 'second wave' and a no-deal ‘Brexit’.
In days like these, sport keeps us sane.
The club championships remind us that it’s not just about winning and losing.
It’s all the stuff in between. The stuff that stays with you long after the final whistle.
It’s about moments and leaving your mark.
It’s about recognising courage and being inspired by it.
It’s about feeling alive in difficult times.
Paddy Cunningham and Domhnall Nugent lost championship matches last weekend but they enhanced this most difficult of summers more than they could ever imagine.
