More importantly for coach Keelan Hamilton was the confidence boost for his squad that came with securing a piece of silverware in their first year as a Newcastle Herald Women's Premier League club.

Maitland replaced Thornton in NNSWF's top-flight women's competition this year. The Redbacks did not win a game last year and had only won two in 35 outings across the past two seasons.

"It's nice because winning trophies is a good habit to get a part of," Hamilton said.

"But what Thornton had been through and where they were as a club, for us to go and win a trophy in our first year after transitioning that program with not a lot of turnover of players, that's a really big thing for the football club.

"And it's a really big thing for our playing group to have a taste of success, which they've been starved of for a number of years."

It was not an easy passage to the state cup final, which the Magpies won 3-1 against Newcastle Olympic at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Sunday. They beat Broadmeadow 0-0 (5-3) in a penalty shoot-out with a number of young players showing great composure to put away their spot kicks.

"Probably something that's not really noted is the fact that Taleah [Mountford] is still only 18, Ainsley [Childs] is still only 18, Mercedes [McNabb] has only just turned 16 and for those players to all step up and take a penalty in a moment where there is a bit of pressure, it was really nice for them," Hamilton said.

"And for someone like Bronte Peel, who said she'd never been in any semi-final in any age group for 11-a-side football. So for her to get to a semi-final and then a final and take home a trophy was really nice."

There was little time for ongoing celebrations though with the Magpies turning their attention this week back to Herald WPL and a trip to Taree on Sunday to take on Mid Coast.

The Magpies are third with 21 points, two ahead of both Warners Bay and Adamstown, and can consolidate their position with a win over the seventh-placed side.

"We have to refocus quickly and one thing we'll talk about this week is that last weekend doesn't actually count for anything in the league, it's a separate competition," Hamilton said.

"The girls focused well for what we needed to do last weekend but now we'll refocus and travel to Taree and try to continue a run that's been pretty good over the last eight weeks.

"I think that it's more of a confidence boost than anything for us. But Mid Coast away is a hard game. I know they had a bad result last time which is a bit of a danger because they'll be a bit fired up. They're not an easy team to play despite where they are on the table, so we're going to need to perform."

Maitland centre-back Madison Gallegos is likely to miss the trip after she was forced from the field early in the state cup final with a hamstring injury.