A striker with lots of goals on his mind
SALVATION for Sean Maguire was served with soup and sandwiches in a café in Portlaoise. It was there, during a 30-minute conversation with Cork City manager John Caulfield in late 2015, where everything changed for the striker.
‘He kept it simple. He told me he’d give me the opportunity but made it clear I was going to have to work hard for it,’ Maguire told
Sportsmail before last season’s FAI Cup final. ‘And he absolutely loves his rolls with soup.’
Caulfield’s intervention was when he began to believe there was light at the end of the tunnel and, three years on, the 23-yearold is now the Republic of Ireland’s brightest attacking prospect.
Maguire’s confidence is soaring right now but the winter of 2015 was one not just of discontent, rather, complete and utter despair. The previous three years left him broken to such an extent that he returned to the family home in Kilkenny and informed his parents he was done with the game and intended to enrol in college so he could prepare for a new career.
‘I felt like I’d had enough. I was in a bad place,’ he admitted. The nadir was getting left out of Dundalk’s match-day squad for the FAI Cup final a month before Caulfield’s call. By that point, however, Maguire’s self-belief had already been shattered, slowly but surely, and it looked as if he would become another un-filled talent who was chewed up and spat out by the dog-eat-dog nature of the professional game.
Loan spells at Sligo Rovers and Accrington Stanley during his two-and-a-half-year contract with West Ham United failed to ignite a spark, so by the time he was released by the Hammers and pitched up at Oriel Park midway through the 2015 Premier Division campaign, his state of mind was fragile.
‘You don’t need that at that age. You can probably handle criticism when you’re in your late 20s or early 30s, but it is different then. It drains your love for the game,’ he recalled.
That love was rekindled at Turner’s Cross, where he scored 29 goals in his first season — including a last-minute winner against Dundalk in extra-time of the FAI Cup final — and 20 last term before Preston North End came calling to take him across the water at the end of July.
Celtic also sent their scouts to run the rule over the player, but it was the Championship club who firmed up their interest and were willing to pay the €150,000 release clause. Less than a month after the transfer was announced, there was uncertainty surrounding his future when manager Simon Grayson departed for Sunderland.
New boss Alex Neill didn’t discard Maguire, instead using him predominantly on the right side of a three-man attack with Jordan Hugill the focal point through the middle. Maguire netted in backto-back games in September and the following month he was called up to the senior Republic of Ireland squad for the World Cup qualifier with Moldova, when he made a brief cameo off the bench.
Just as it looked as if he was building up a head of steam, a severe hamstring injury in November ruled him out for four months. Surgery was required and Maguire spent six weeks with his leg in a brace.
Phone calls from Ireland manager Martin O’Neill helped keep his spirits up while close friend Kevin O’Connor, who signed for Preston at the same time and later won €1million on the lotto, departed for a loan spell with Fleetwood Town.
Maguire’s focus never wavered, so when he was sprung from the bench on his return to action against Bolton Wanderers with 25 minutes remaining at the start of this month he was able to make an immediate impact. He struck twice to give his side a win in the Lancashire derby and from there he has gone from strength to strength, scoring in each of the following three games — Bristol City, Fulham and Sunderland — as Preston have closed in on the play-off spots. They’re just two points adrift and the Premier League is now more than just a pipe dream. This week he will be key to O’Neill’s plans in Turkey, although the Ireland manager did stress the importance of patience with his development. ‘I like to make a judgement myself on players, hence me choosing the particular players I do,’ he said this week. ‘I don’t rush off and take somebody on just because five minutes later he’s signed for a side higher up. Of course it does help if he’s starting to play and starting to score goals at that level.
‘Sean is now showing that he can score goals, he’s got a bit of something. Which I have said to him, he’s got something. He is still a long way away. To change the fortunes at international level, it is putting a lot of undue pressure on young players.’
That is something O’Neill seems keen to avoid, although Maguire has been through more than enough to take that in his stride. Coincidentally, during the summer of 2015 when he was without a club after being let go by West Ham, Maguire met up with Blackburn Rovers’ Darragh Lenihan for personal training sessions in Dublin.
This week they are together with Ireland where O’Neill will see just how far both have come.