By Michael McMullan

KILREA won the Derry Senior League for the first time since 1981 but have now set their sights on the championship which kicks into action next month.

Before a ball was kicked this season, Kilrea’s magic word was consistency.

In recent years, they were sucked into a relegation battle with the added uncertainty of Derry CCC’s changing of the leagues.

“Our main aim of the year was just to be consistent in our game,” said Peadar McLaughlin, now in his seventh season at senior level.

It was game by game until four rounds to go when they began to eye winning the league outright.

“We actually started really talking about it before the Ballinascreen game and we ended up actually getting beat that night, we kicked 13 wides,” McLaughlin added.

“But before that, it wasn’t ever discussed.”

The club were delighted to end their search for senior silverware. Their last shoots came in 2011 when they reached the championship final before going down to Ballinderry in the first leg of their three-in-a-row.

“Since then, we haven’t even competed for a league,” said McLaughlin, a minor championship winner with the Pearses.

“It was good buzz about the club for a couple of days but then everybody settled down and took a week off. Now, the focus is for championship.”

The Pearses have been paired with champions Glen, Sleacht Néill, Bellaghy, Dungiven and Swatragh.

“It’s five tough games we ended up with,” McLaughlin added. “We have probably the two biggest teams in it, Glen and Sleacht Néill. Then you have traditional clubs like Bellaghy in amongst it as well, so it’s not an easy group. We’ll just have to take it out game by game.”

First up is a meeting with Bellaghy who they’ve had pulsating games against in recent seasons.

“There’s never been more than a kick of the ball in it, so it’ll probably be the same type of game again to start us off,” McLaughlin concluded.