SAFC: Captain Jack McCarthy honoured to lead special Carrigaline group

Carrigaline had many heroes as they roared back from what was a six-point deficit at one stage to overcome Knocknagree in Sunday’s McCarthy Insurance Group Cork SAFC final.

The victors benefited from some McCarthy insurance of their own, with captain Jack McCarthy among their stars in a 0-16 to 1-11 triumph. His leadership from left half-back, especially in the periods where they were under pressure, was vital and he was honoured to be captaining such a group.

“It's unbelievable,” he said.

“I know we've a lot of older, experienced lads in the group, so I never took being captain of this team for granted.

“It's a big honour for me, the first captain lift a senior.”

Having accepted the Kevin McTernan Cup on behalf of the team and club, McCarthy delivered an erudite speech, expressing the commitment shown by one and all to bounce bac from last year’s relegation from premier senior.

“It’s hard to put into words when you have it [the trophy] here after the long year and after a tough year last year with the relegation,” he said.

“It’s never easy to bounce straight back. But what a group we have, and we showed that today, and we’re back where we belong, thank God.”

Down by four points at half-time, Carrigaline seized control early in the second half.

“It’s just one of those games where tactics go out the window,” McCarthy said, “and you show what heart you have, what kind of team you have.

“Back your subs, back everyone, and let’s go out and play and play like we know you can. That’s what we did, we never stopped.”

It has been the way all year, with the immediate response to demotion seeing them win Division 1 of the McCarthy Insurance Group Football League.

That meant that they were naturally among the favourites for outright glory in the second tier but the reality was obviously harder work than the theory.

Deep wells of character were needed and they were shown, McCarthy felt.

“It’s easy to drop your head once you get relegated,” he said, “but we believed in ourselves and we know we belonged in the top senior grade.

“Maybe results didn’t go our way the last few years, but thankfully, we’re back today.

You just have to take it game by game. You just have to keep backing yourself, keep your head up and thankfully it went our way this year, and not get ahead of yourself when you get a few wins and thankfully, here we are.”