WE ALL KNOW Sean Maguire is the League of Ireland’s most sought-after player right now, but a former team-mate of the Cork City striker has been showing his class out west.
Although Sligo Rovers have endured a difficult start to the 2017 campaign, winger Kieran Sadlier is shining brightly in the SSE Airtricity League with five goals so far.
The 22-year-old spent a decade at West Ham before Dave Robertson brought him to Peterborough United and, subsequently, on to the Showgrounds. While developing at the Hammers’ academy, he shared a room with Maguire and the pair soon became mates.
“I loved my time at West Ham and made a lot of friends that I still keep in touch with now,” Sadlier told The42 this week. “I learned a lot and it was a good academy for me to be at.
“The last three years were frustrating as no one was ever going to break into the first team with the manager that was there [Sam Allardyce].
It was a good 10 years but I had to leave when I did.”
He adds: “Not getting a chance there made me want to go and prove that I’m good enough. It was the same with Sean Maguire, he was my room-mate and we’re still good friends now.
“He’s proven his worth and hopefully I’m doing the same.”
Sadlier, who was born in Haywards Heath in Sussex, enjoyed a brief spell at St Mirren after departing West Ham in 2015 and made his full debut against the Scottish Premiership champions.
“That was my first taste of first-team football and I was thrown straight into the Premiership up there,” he remembers. “We played Celtic at home and I put in a really good performance.”
He learned a lot during that short stint and had the offer to extend his stay but opted instead for a move to the Posh. Robertson rated Sadlier but was sacked just two months after the youngster’s arrival, and he found himself farmed out to Halifax Town on loan.
When his old manager was handed the Sligo job later that year, however, he gave several of his former players the chance to link up once again in the League of Ireland. Sadlier accepted the invite as it would provide him with the opportunity to gain valuable experience playing regular football.
It may have taken him some time to adapt to the lifestyle change that comes with moving from London to Sligo, but, now in his second season, he feels settled.
Living with another ex-Hammers youth player, Daniel Kearns, and former Peterborugh full-back Tobi Adebayo-Rowling helps, while his parents come over from Cambridge to watch him play regularly.
Heavy defeats in the opening two games of the year — to Limerick and Dundalk — saw the club under pressure right from the off and although results began to pick up, Robertson was out of a job by the beginning of April.
I was sad to see him go and so were a lot of the other players, especially those he had brought in and the ones that had known him from being at Peterborough,” he says.
“That’s just the way football is and things like that happen. I’m sure he’ll have no worries getting another job somewhere else and I’ll stay in contact with him because he’s a good manager.”
Gerard Lyttle has since come in from Cliftonville to replace Robertson and Sadlier has been impressed so far.
“His training sessions have been really good, we concentrate on keeping the ball and working hard. Personally I get on with him as well and he’s good with man-management.
“I think he’s only done one full week here and he’s still getting used to it, but come July he’ll want to bring more players in and strengthen the squad.”
Unbeaten in their last three league outings, the Bit O’Red are 10th in the Premier Division table and just a point behind Finn Harps ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Limerick.
Watch Sadlier’s free-kick in the win over Bray Wanderers [2.38 in]:
“At the back-end of last season, we wanted to push for the top four which I think we are more than capable of doing,” says Sadlier. “Our start has killed that a bit but it’s a long season and if you look at the table it’s very tight.
“Personally, I’ve been really pleased with how I’ve been doing. I worked hard in the off-season and came back fit, now I’m scoring goals and I want that to continue.
“I’ve only had about 60-odd professional games so far and I’m still quite young but this has been the best spell I’ve played and it’s good to be getting a run of games. I just want to play as well as possible and see how far I can go in my career.”
Like Maguire and so many of the players currently plying their trade in the League of Ireland, if the right opportunity came to make a switch to England, Sadlier would undoubtedly consider it.
“When I first came over, I was at Peterborough but I wanted to play regular football,” he explains.
“I made it clear that I was coming here to showcase what I could do and go further in my career. Even Dave Robertson came out and said that it’s a stepping stone for me because he knew I was good enough but it was just about showing it.
“Hopefully now with the performances that I’m putting in I’ll be able to get the attention and have clubs watching me in the same way that Sean is.”
Sadlier’s late grandfather was born and raised in Tipperary, making him eligible to represent Ireland. There was talk at age 15 of a call-up to England for the Victory Shield tournament but it never came and he opted to represent the Boys in Green after inclusion in an underage squad.
He has gone on to line out for Ireland at every level up to U21, and is thankful of the experience.
I’ve always supported Ireland with my background and I ended up playing for them and stuck with them all the way up to U21s. We’ve had good teams and I’ve made good friends.
“It helped me coming over here as well — knowing people and a bit about the league. The likes of Chris Forrester at Peterborough told me about it as well.
“I hope to get into the senior team in the future. When you see [Daryl] Horgan and [Andy] Boyle do it last season, they’re two or three years older than me so it gives you hope. I think I’m capable of it.”
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Mank,the 3makes them worse
We all dream of a team of Mike Rosses.
Doesn’t look the greatest more soccer than rugby. But, no one will care what the jersey looks like if they can win the 6 nations and do well in the world cup
Just happy to see Canterbury back on the jersey…puma wasnt grrst .
Don’t think it’s too bad. Only so much you can do with a green jersey.
Kinda looks like a soccer jersey. Hopefully it’s more rugby like in real life
Winning a World Cup in a soccer jersey would be a turn up for the books
If I rip the buttons off my Irish Permanent jersey and put on “3″ would anyone know the difference
Bring back the baggy permanent tsb jersey!
I love the collar on it and it reminds alot of original earlier days with Canterbury
I think I just vomited in my mouth… jersey is MUCK
That’s well dodgy. The 70′s called, they want the jerseys back…
This means the older ones will get a reduction in price I hope?
Not one single person on this post said they liked it. I know it has the soccer teams sponsor on it, but other than that it’s grand. At least it’s not as bad as Puma’s last attempt….
Sponsors or not, ’3′ isn’t a slimming number. The whole team looks overweight.
Is it not a bit wrong that you can make out Paul O’Connell’s nipple?!
If they’re going to put a rugby collar on the shirt, then put a rugby collar on the shirt, not that ridiculous looking after thought! And no it looks nothing like a proper rugby shirt. If I gave it to my dogs, they wouldn’t even sleep on it.
There’s not much much you can do with such a neutral colour to strike fear into opponents minds,unlike say yellow or red which registers danger to our brains(Ayrton Senna’s opponents always moved quickly out of his way when they saw his bright yellow helmet in their mirrors)maybe some sort of Celtic design would help.
I’d love to see an orange jersey for once ,much more striking,or our national colour of blue a gold harp,though it might look too much like Leinsters jersey.
This Hutchinson Whampoa takeover of O2 is changing everything for the worse. First The Point/O2 has to change its name and now this. Some people just want to watch the world burn.
Like all these things you have to see the thing in real life
How many blips will that set you back?
Awful. Something your mother would have bought you as a child. Bring back traditional rugby shirts.
I think they’re deadly. The dark green 2009 ones were the last cnz ones we had I think?
Are they painted on or will they have to tear them off?
It looks just like the Irish home & away soccer jerseys circa the whole Ireland v France Thierry Henry fiasco in 2009
I like this Ireland jersey design, it is classy and slick with a nicer green colour. My only critique is that the crest on the chest of the jersey should be larger and more prominent. The white shield with the IRFU symbol is too small on the front of the jersey, it isn’t brave enough.
Larger crests on international jerseys have, over the past couple of years, come back into fashion for the most high-profile and stylish teams. For example, the 2013 British and Irish Lions rugby team wore an enlarged crest on the front of their jersey (both on their Test jersey and their replica jersey), as did the Holland national football team at the 2014 FIFA world cup. The retro penchant for larger and more prominent crests is to remind the players, supporters and opponents, of the proud identity and heritage of your team. It is to be hoped that if there are any tweaks made to the new Ireland jersey in the months to come, it will be in the form of an enlarged crest.
Very clever marketing from 3. The National football team, and the representative rugby side ( both playing at Aviva) have the same jerseys.
The home jersey is actually quite good, especially with the retro white collar attached at the top, but the alternate jersey seriously looks like the away jersey worn by the soccer team a couple of years back, and that in itself is a letdown, because it looks like the soccer team just threw it away and Canterbury just picked it up and didn’t do much with it. It just doesn’t look good. Ireland don’t always have to have a shade of green on all their jerseys. They could have made it navy/black like puma did before.
Would be class to see Ireland in Under Amrour gear. The Welsh and Clermont stuff looks unreal!
I’m not entirely sure if I like them or not. People will rubbish the puma ones, but I personally liked the first puma jersey for it’s simple design and good use of texture. Subsequent ones were kinda poor (though a few of the training jerseys were good).
Canterbury’s use of texture is again interesting. It looks like they’ve gone with tiny embossed “shamrocks” on the front of the jersey. Interesting as I have said, but not sure if I like it yet. But nah – not a fan of the collar on it.
I like it
The collar? Seriously, what is the story?