Maguire not finished yet, but he’s putting his family first

From being in demand, a man in the Ireland team and potentially on his way to the Premier League, to being released by a relegated club, it’s been a rough couple of years for Sean Maguire. The striker is keen to point out that he’s just turned 30, has more to offer and goals to give. Even though it was a tough season for him ( just two goals in 35 games) and his club, Carlisle United, were relegated to League Two, England’s fourth tier, Maguire’s not getting stressed about his next move.

The phone will ring, as it always does, as clubs will forever have a need for a nippy attacker with an eye for goal. Staying in England is the preferred option, but a move home to the League of Ireland, where he experienced many happy days, especially with Cork City, cannot be ruled out.

For now, Maguire is blocking calls and blocking out thoughts about his future. His wife, Claudia, is due to give birth next month. That’s the priority, as the trauma of losing a baby last year put his football into perspective.

“I haven’t thought much about what’s next, as the baby is the priority. I will wait until the baby’s born, then think about it, but it’s family first. I had conversations with some clubs here [in England], but nowhere close to my home in Preston. I spoke to a few teams back home, but I told them the same, I will wait until the baby arrives,” Maguire told the Irish Independent.

The last 12 months have educated him about life outside of that football bubble, with Maguire and his wife hit hard when she was told she had an ectopic pregnancy last year.

“We found out she was pregnant around the time I signed for Carlisle [July 2023]. We went for the nine-week scan to make sure everything was OK. It was before the second game of the season for Carlisle,” he recalled.

Rocked

“We were told it was an ectopic pregnancy, so she had to go for emergency surgery 12 hours after she found out, as it’s so high risk. I missed that game [the second of the season]. I was rocked for a few weeks. It put football into perspective.

“Football has been my life since I started, aged five, and became a professional with Waterford at 17 – and I want to play until I am 36 or 37 – but I was floored.

“With an ectopic pregnancy, the foetus is stuck in the fallopian tube and you have to go through a process. Ours was serious and needed surgery right away.

“You fear the worst. Your chances of conceiving again drop, but luckily we were able to conceive a few months later. Now the baby’s due in five weeks, so it’s all been put into perspective. We have good family around us.”

Maguire raised the issue early in this conversation and says he’s keen to speak about it and not hide it away, breaking the code of silence in the macho world of football.

“I am happy to talk about it and raise awareness, as I have learned so much. I knew nothing at the time,” he added.

“When the midwife told us it was an ectopic pregnancy, I assumed it was just a complication we could get through. She [the midwife] then explained it [the situation]. Then I knew it was serious.

“Not many blokes know about it, but they need to know these things. And it’s harder on the woman than on the man. Claudia still has the scars from the surgery on her stomach.”

Maguire has previously spoken of his decision to remove himself from social media to be shielded from anger and negativity. His family issue also showed how those on the outside have no idea what athletes are coping with behind the privacy of closed doors.

“People are quick to judge players on how they are performing, but they don’t know what’s going on in the background. Fans can get on a player’s back when they are not doing well, and that is harsh. The Carlisle fans were good to me. It’s a sleeping giant of a club. They deserve to be in a better division than League Two, which is where they’ll be next season,” he said.

Maguire has shipped criticism for his goal output – four in 83 games over the last four seasons with Preston North End, Coventry City and Carlisle – but he points out that he was played out of position for much of that time.

Slog

“I prefer to play as number nine. After that, I’d be happy as a number ten. But I was played right wing for a lot of the season just gone. That doesn’t really suit me. I didn’t have that conversation with the manager before I signed and the style of play didn’t suit me. That counter-attacking style [we used] didn’t suit me.

“Jordan Gibson, who used to play for St Pat’s and Sligo Rovers, was our top scorer with seven goals and some of them were penalties. That says a lot about the slog we had all season,” he says.

Maguire retains a fondness for the League of Ireland and has not ruled out a move home. “I still feel my best years are ahead of me, wherever that might be,” he said.

Whatever the future holds, he is already

planning ahead and has started his Uefa B licence.

“We had Georgie Kelly [the League of Ireland’s top scorer in 2021] here at Carlisle last season. He didn’t play much [because of injury]. I still keep an eye on the league [League of Ireland]. I watch it every week when I can. It’s very unpredictable, like Galway beating Bohs and Waterford beating Rovers last week.”

It’s seven years since Maguire was handed his Ireland debut by Martin O’Neill in a World Cup qualifying win over Moldova and he won his 11th (and probably last) cap at home to Bulgaria under Stephen Kenny.

Playing for his country has been the highlight, without question, he said as he reflected on his career.

“When you first kick a ball as a fiveyear-old, your dream is to play for your country. I did that. I didn’t play in the Premier League, but I played over 200 games in England. Scoring for my country was amazing.

“I came close to the top division, was nearly in the play-offs with Preston, made the play-offs with Coventry last season.

“I said to my dad when I started out, if I can get to play in the League of Ireland, I will be happy with that. To get capped and to score for Ireland was a dream come true. And I am not finished yet.”

‘When you first kick a ball as a five-yearold, your dream is to playforyour country. I did that’