SEAN MAGUIRE SAYS he’ll focus on continuing to perform at Championship level in his pursuit of a first Republic of Ireland senior cap.
Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane was in attendance yesterday at Deepdale as Maguire gave Preston North End the lead in a 1-1 draw with Barnsley.
It was the 23-year-old striker’s first Championship goal in his fifth league appearance for Preston, who he joined from Cork City at the end of July.
Maguire netted in his first outing for his new club — a friendly against Premier League side Burnley — and his overall performances have already seen him become a fan favourite among supporters of the Lancashire outfit, who are a point outside the play-off places at this early stage of the season.
Maguire also picked up the man-of-the-match award yesterday, just as he did in Preston’s previous Championship outing — a goalless draw away to Middlesbrough.
Nevertheless, the Kilkenny native is still waiting for international recognition at senior level. The former Ireland U21 forward was named in a provisional squad for the recent World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Serbia but didn’t make the cut when Martin O’Neill trimmed his panel.
“It was a massive honour for me to get into the provisional squad. It’s something that I’ve been dreaming of since I was four or five, when I started playing football,” Maguire told Preston North End’s official website after yesterday’s draw with Barnsley.
“I’ve just got to keep performing at this level, keep scoring the goals, and one day down the line I’ll look forward to hopefully putting on that Irish jersey.”
Before heading home the opener, Maguire did well to create a good chance for Jordan Hugill, but he was unable to hit the target.
Maguire almost scored a late winner but his half-volley brought a good save from Barnsley goalkeeper Adam Davies.
What more does he have to do to get into the Irish squad? We have too many old, average forwards
@Jordan Callaghan: score more goals 1 in 5 so far, don’t be getting carried away!
@King Kenny: he got a few man of the matches as well, he hasn’t been playing as a striker every match. He’s been playing on the right and behind the striker too.
@King Kenny: what has long, Murphy, Walters, o’dowda and mcgoldrick done at club level so far this season to get them into the squad? Fu** all.
@Jordan Callaghan: agree but if he scores 4 or 5 goals between now and they next matches he’s got a chance, agree totally Long should only be an impact sub and Walters age and fitness are against him, Murphy has a scored a few this season, but 1 goals in 26 caps for Ireland speaks for it self, hopefully Maguire cracks on as he has being player well alright! I’d also hope Scott Hogan gets a chance as injury free he looks the real deal!
Maybe if he developed an English accent he would sail in to the Irish team? Cmon Martin smell the coffee
@Tricksy:that’s a stupid comment Tricksy
@King Kenny: in Shane longs last five games with saints and Ireland he scored no goals , so why not give maguire a chance by your silly statistic s
@Tricksy: well getting an English accent won’t get him in the team, but banging in a few might!
@King Kenny: the only way to know is give him a chance king kenny ??
So we’ve jumped from the Cillian Sheridan bandwagon to the Seán Maguire bandwagon?
@Fergus Brady: it’s not a bandwagon, and I don’t think many people care about Sheridan anymore
@Fergus Brady: Another player that O’Neill has ignored.
@Dave Murray: its just ironic that with Irelands go to tactic of launching it into the box that we could have done with a 6 5 striker
It’s getting embarrassing now, just call him up for f##k sake. All this moaning about no talented footballers coming through is nothing but excuses.
@conex: come on how embarrassing is it? He’s scored 1 in 5 games, he hardly banged in back to back hatricks!
@King Kenny: he qas playin right wing? Hes young and clearly an eye for goal. Whats the harm in brining him into the squad?
@ryan o sullivan: no harm at all, but need plenty of goals from him to get a chance, look this time last year we where all shouting for Daryl Horgan and he’s only a sub now with Preston, manager change and he’s out of the team and what a good player he is…
12 years ago Wes hoolahan played for Sherbourne, he was ignored for years, he’s Irelands most creative player at the age of 35. Do we want to keep missing the boat or start giving the younger players opportunities to grow and develop. Look at Wales last week bringing in that chap that barely makes the Liverpool first team squad. We don’t trust our youngsters coming through.
@conex: agree Wes is traffic player, but he went the long route to the PL livingstone Blackpool and then Norwich and when he signed for latter they where in Division 1 so had to work his way up to championship and then PL, no one was shouting for Wes when he was at Blackpool or livingstone, not that he wasn’t a great player but that’s just it, people wanted Craig Forester in the squad last year aswell and he’s an unused sub at Peterborough now, and I’d think he’s a decent player. LOI is a great place for players to be picked up, but they need to move to championship / PL for chance with Irish team, sure most of the players in league aren’t full time!
@Jordan Callaghan: you really need to brush up on your knowledge of those players. Murphy has been scoring regularly for Forest both in pre-season and the football season
@Ken Sutton: Murphy scored 3 goals in the league so far, nothing spectacular he plays as a striker all the time, unlike Maguire. what about the others?
@Ken Sutton: 1 goal in 26 caps though! Not prolific, think he has had his chance?
@King Kenny: I didn’t see a mention of any of their international goals in the original post.
Go seanie boy