Old Boys had to come from behind in the second half to beat Athletic Marist at Whitestone Contracting Stadium.
''When we had to battle as hard as we did to get on top of a tough Athletic Marist, it all makes it worthwhile,'' Darling said.
''They were worthy opponents.''
The game was a tense affair as Old Boys' attacking ability eventually wore down a rugged Athletic defence.
The Athletic forward pack tore into its work from the kick off, led by robust No 8 Viliami Leo, who excelled at committing the Old Boys defence.
This gave Athletic a territorial advantage in the first quarter and first five-eighth Ben Palmer kicked two quick penalties to give his side a boost in momentum.
Old Boys battled its way back through two Seti Talelelei penalties, but Athletic scored the first try 11 minutes before halftime, when a Mateo Raturawa burst was followed by an Adam Halkett pass to send winger Kasanova Saone in at the corner.
Talelelei finally breached the aggressive Athletic defence late in the spell when he scored an unconverted try to level the scores at halftime.
Old Boys broke the deadlock early in the second half when midfielders Hamish McCulloch and Lemi Masoe combined with free-running lock Sale Pi'i ,who used his power to cross under the bar.
Athletic refused to bend the knee despite losing captain Steven Banks for 10 minutes, though Old Boys tightened its grip on the game when Talelelei added two more penalties.
It was all on in the final quarter, as Athletic threw everything at the Old Boys line.
In the Old Boys pack, Pi'i was superb in the lineout, carrying the ball up and running free with the ball in hand. Late in the second half, he ran 50m before finding Masoe, and only a superb covering tackle from Palmer cut Masoe down metres out.
Darling was again a superb leader, and one of the surprise packets for Old Boys was Manulua Taiti, normally a flanker, at halfback.
He made several telling runs and on several occasions joined the back of the lineout to take the throw.
Talelelei was always in control at first receiver and directed play intelligently, midfielders McCulloch and Masoe had the edge on their opponents, and fullback Chris Perry was always prepared to run the ball back.
For Athletic, Palmer distributed well but Saone was given too few opportunities. Up front, Leo was dynamic with the ball in hand and Jared Whitburn took another big step forward.
By Terry O'Neill.
Citizens Shield
The final
Old Boys 24
Sete Telelelei, Sale Pi'i tries; Telelelei con, 4 pen
Athletic Marist 11
Kasanova Saone try; Ben Palmer 2 pen
Halftime: 11-11
