By Michael McMullan

CONSISTENCY is the key word in the Steelstown ladies’ vocabulary after they secured a ninth Senior League title on Monday night.

Second-half goals from captain Megan Devine, Katy Holly and Orla McGeough made the difference in their league-clinching win over Ballymaguigan.

Long-serving manager Thomas Cusack has steered much of their success and emphasises the importance of consistently trying to improve.

“You’ve got the core group there – a lot of them have the nine titles, and then you’ve got the younger ones coming through” Cusack said.

“It’s just a case of every year trying to blood some new players and keep the standards going.”

Cusack has been in charge of the senior team since 2015, having begun coaching when his daughter started football three years earlier.

“It’s like anything, you hate it at times, you love it at times,” he said with a laugh.

“I’ve got a great bunch of girls. I’ve seen some of these girls from U16 when I started coaching. Now they’re up and married so it’s a great journey. Their second team lost to Ballinderry in the Junior B final on Monday and is littered with young players that will be the club’s future.

That’s where the experienced players come in, handing down the nuggets of advice and leading by example.

“It’s just about their attitude in training and how they take information on board. It’s their attitude when they turn up for matches and give it their all,” Cusack said.

“They’ll do some work in the dark, their fitness training and all the rest of it. Then, when they come on to a pitch, it’s all ball-work.”

With the championship coming down the tracks and with the league title tucked away, there are more gains to be made.

“There are a lot of areas we have to improve on,” he added. “The first half was very sloppy and we tried to force it at times, we didn’t execute things properly.

“It’s now about working on that over the next four weeks, until the start of the championship.”