COMING from a St Gall’s man who won countless titles, including an All-Ireland in 2010, co-commentator Kieran McGourty was generous in his assessment of Cargin after watching them annex another county title last Sunday, describing them as one of the greatest Antrim champions we’ve seen.
The Erin's Own men won three-in-a-row [2018-2020] and made it four in five years last weekend after edging out Aghagallon in an extra-time thriller at Corrigan Park. Go back further and it’s six senior titles in the last eight years.
Given the advances and demands at club level, that kind of dominance in the modern game is an astonishing achievement.
At different times, different teams came snapping at their heels: St Gall’s, Lamh Dhearg, St John’s and more recently Creggan Kickhams and Aghagallon – and they’ve still climbed the mountain on so many occasions.
The challenge now – as it always has been after winning Antrim – is doing themselves justice on the provincial stage.
To date, Cargin haven’t done that.
Amid the pitch celebrations and sheer exhaustion among the players, Pat Shivers said that there can be “no excuses” ahead of another Ulster campaign as they have five weeks to prepare for it.
The amount that both sets of players gave of themselves last Sunday was quite remarkable.
The wet conditions, the hard hits, two punishing periods of extra-time, watching Sean O'Neill being subbed off with what looked like a dead leg and then coming back on again, literally hobbling on one leg and summoning the energy to get up the field to score the last point right at the end of extra-time.
It's widely known Cargin brothers Tomas and Mick McCann were being held together by tape for the last number of weeks - and they still had decisive moments in the final.
While on the subject of the McCanns, I don't remember Paul losing one ball, or anyone getting past Gerard in midfield on Sunday.
Big Shivers was out of the game for long periods but every time he got his hands on the ball he invariably scored.
And the honesty of their manager - Ronan Devlin – who didn’t know if he was cut out to even be a manager.
“You’ve self-doubts because I haven’t done it before,” said the Ballinderry man. “I coached at schools’ level but I was never a manager [of a senior team]. Some of these boys are nearly my age and I didn’t know if I’d get their respect.”
As McGourty rightly pointed out, there is so much to admire about this current Cargin team. Even when they were eight down in the second half, nobody in Corrigan Park thought they were out of the game.
But if anyone epitomises Cargin - it’s Kevin O’Boyle. If there’s a fresher, fitter 35-year-old corner-back in the country, they haven't come across him.
For the best part of two decades, he’s pursued excellence for club and county.
He’s had enough injuries for two players in his career. When family commitments became so demanding at one point, former Antrim boss Lenny Harbinson knew his worth to the team and effectively minded his kids at pitch-side in order for O’Boyle to resume his inter-county career.
He didn't train between this year's semi-final and final and took to the field on Sunday with strapping on his knee. He was probably always going to man-mark Adam Loughran, one of the most precocious forwards in the county.
Even after conceding an early goal to Aghagallon's number 11, O'Boyle got better and better in the final. A lesser defender might have lost their composure, suffered a bout of indiscipline and possibly been hooked.
As it turned out O'Boyle was the best player on the pitch at the end of extra-time.
If it was possible for a camera to follow his every move during Sunday’s decider, it would pass as an absolute masterclass for young footballers to watch and learn from. His handling, concentration, foot-work for a defender, composure and sharpness were exemplary.
Not only defending, but the way in which he broke out of defence with the ball to launch another counter-attack.
But this is what Cargin people have come to expect from one of their greatest club servants.
In many ways, Cargin can be a slow burner of a clan.
From the outside, they can sometimes come across as having a chip on their shoulder - and on the pitch they probably do, as with all good teams - but when you scrape the surface there is a real human decency among those I've encountered over the years.
A few days after Sunday’s triumph, I sent O’Boyle a congratulatory text.
I hope he doesn’t mind me printing his reply. But this is what he wrote back.
“Nah, no accolades needed. It just ignited an appreciation of where you belong. The GAA is something else. I read an article about Eunan Walsh (Aghagallon) talking about his late Granda (Seamus Walsh, who passed away a couple of months ago).
“I met his Granda during COVID in Ballycastle, hadn’t met each other before. And we chatted GAA for half hour eating ice cream, both loved it.
“We buried Paddy Devlin a few weeks back, Cargin jersey draped over his coffin, team-mates, clubmen, carrying him to his resting place... It’s just something we are lucky to be a part of.”
Clearly, the Cargin players leave their egos at the club gates. They believe wholeheartedly in the power of the collective.
And, as Kevin O'Boyle says, there's really no need for individual accolades.
That's the reason why they're county champions again.
