Updated at 5.15pm
AN EXCELLENT WEEK for Sean Maguire continued this afternoon, as the Preston forward scored his fourth goal of the season for the Championship club to level his side against Brentford on Saturday.
The goal came less than 24 hours after he was crowned a Premier Division champion as Cork City wrapped up the 2017 league title with a 1-0 win against Bray Wanderers.
Preston could not capitalise on the leveller, however, as Alex Neil’s side were defeated 3-2 at Deepdale — meaning they fall to ninth in the Championship with back-to-back losses.
Maguire has started life promisingly at Preston, scoring on his non-competitive debut as well as recording a number of man of the match performances featuring a handful of goals and assists.
Saturday saw the forward bag his fourth of the season. It was arguably his finest in a Lilywhites shirt as he went on a determined individual run which saw him glide past one defender before edging towards the box and planting a low strike beyond goalkeeper Daniel Bentley.
Goal @Seani_Maguire_ #pnefc pic.twitter.com/WHN6klx9W2
— CP (@ChrisPitcher) October 28, 2017
Last night also saw the 23-year-old officially crowned the League of Ireland’s top goalscorer for 2017, despite departing Turner’s Cross for the Championship four months ago at the end of July.
Maguire scored 20 Premier Division goals in 21 games to secure the golden boot award, with his ex-club managing to end the season on a high with a win at home against Bray before hoisting the trophy on Friday night.
The player tweeted yesterday: “Couldn’t be happier for everyone involved with the club. From the staff to the fans. Enjoy the celebrations @CorkCityFC”.
The forward made his international debut against Moldova last month and was earlier this week named in Martin O’Neill’s provisional squad for Ireland’s World Cup play-off against Denmark.
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Good piece and great to see him doing so well, Munster are certainly in the upper tier of teams in Europe and a real handful at home but the crunch needed against the power teams in a semi or final they are a bit away. This new setup will take time and will have its down days but with the right acquisitions and leadership they could be there in a couple of years.
@mrbryanrussell: What Munster have been missing from the past 8 years is what it is needed to win a Champions cup/ Heinekin Cup – a world class 7 and world class 10. Unfortunately Munster have have just a series of bad luck in this department – constant injuries to TOD, Bleyendaal and now Cloete and Carbery have knocked their season and when you’re relying on 2nd and 3rd choice players in these positions it is highly unlikely you will make it all the way to the final in May.
There’s always a reaction when Munster don’t do well, especially from certain quarters within and outside rugby who like to twist the knife when they get the opportunity.
However Munster are still not far off making a breakthrough but there are a few things needed for that to happen in my opinion.
The new coaching staff and shift in playing style needs to bed in.
We desperately need some players of the right quality to come through the academy. When I say “the right quality” I don’t mean simply international quality but players made out of the same stuff as Clohessy, Galway, Foley, Quinlan, Stringer, ROG etc.
Players who are 100% Munster and would see pulling on the red jersey (of Munster!!) as the greatest honour imaginable.
It might be a big ask now that we’re so removed from the amateur era but a couple of players like that would be gold dust.
We need to shift away from the notion that the HC is the only thing that matters. Too many times in recent years we’ve shot ourselves in the foot by putting ourselves in a poor position in the Pro14 by going after a European Cup we were never likely to win.
Build towards making ourselves as good as anyone in the league, win it and evolve from there.
We need to ensure that any players that are brought in from outside, either IQ or not, are of the required quality and willing to give 100% to Munster.
And probably above all else we need a bit of luck, especially with injuries.