Sean Maguire F Carlisle United b.1994

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Celtic the latest team to scout him.

[elroy]

After a strong start, seems like Horgan dropped to the bench a lot lately. Anyone know more?

[DannyInvincible]

'Martin O'Neill open to calling up Maguire': https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017...martin-oneill/

O'Neill too has shown his willingness to give domestic talent a chance on the international stage, and he is keeping the door open for Maguire to make the step up.

"Of course I'd consider him," O'Neill told RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue. "I have plucked players from the League of Ireland, and I'm not averse to that at all - absolutely not. I'll have a look at it. The young lad's done very, very well. I saw quite a few games last season; not so much this season I must admit, when he's doing well. But it's pretty easy for me to get the games now. In terms of bringing someone in, again, I'm not averse to that. I want them to feel as if they've earned that right."

[DannyInvincible]

Maguire scores his tenth league goal of the season tonight to put Cork 2-0 up at home to Finn Harps.

Edit: Maguire assists a third for Cork.

Edit: Maguire scores a penalty to put Cork 5-0 up.

Edit: Video of the penalty here: https://twitter.com/corkcityfcnews/s...93414890545157

[DannyInvincible]

Maguire scored twice tonight in Cork's 5-0 victory over Drogheda.

[nigel-harps1954]

What's the chances of a call up to replace Long now I'd wonder?

[DannyInvincible]

What's the chances of a call up to replace Long now I'd wonder?

Did O'Neill mean that there were other players who weren't named in the provisional squad who would currently be ahead of Maguire when he said the following?: "If [Maguire] continues to progress, there's no reason why he can’t make it but there are people ahead of him in terms of experience as much as anything."

If so, I wonder who they are...

Or was O'Neill simply referring to those players already named in the provisional squad as being the people ahead of Maguire? If that's the case, then I suppose there could be a chance of Maguire getting a nod now that we're very short on out-and-out striking options, or it'll just mean Rooney or McGoldrick (who usually miss out on the final cut, if I'm not mistaken) getting promoted to the final squad when it's named.

Does anyone know if the entire provisional squad is heading to the US or will it be cut down before travelling?

O'Neill also explained the exclusion of Cillian Sheridan similarly to how he explained Maguire's: "Of course [Sheridan] was under consideration. Other people are in front of him at this moment but we are certainly keeping a close eye on him."

Who between Maguire and Sheridan would be higher in the pecking order at present, I wonder?

[samhaydenjr]

Did O'Neill mean that there were other players who weren't named in the provisional squad who would currently be ahead of Maguire when he said the following?: "If [Maguire] continues to progress, there's no reason why he can’t make it but there are people ahead of him in terms of experience as much as anything."

If so, I wonder who they are...

Or was O'Neill simply referring to those players already named in the provisional squad as being the people ahead of Maguire? If that's the case, then I suppose there could be a chance of Maguire getting a nod now that we're very short on out-and-out striking options, or it'll just mean Rooney or McGoldrick (who usually miss out on the final cut, if I'm not mistaken) getting promoted to the final squad when it's named.

As you said, McGoldrick and Rooney for starters and probably Sheridan. And while I'm usually fairly optimistic I think I need to be a bit more realistic about Maguire - people are talking about him as though it's inevitable that he'll follow in the footsteps of Kevin Doyle and make an immediate impact at Championship level by the end of this year (and I certainly hope that happens), but it's also possible that he ends up like other highly touted Cork City strikers: Dave Mooney, John O'Flynn and Roy O'Donovan, who did make a step up in their careers but not enough to become full internationals. With that in mind, it could be argued that League One strikers like Billy Clarke, Aiden O'Brien and Paddy Madden could have as much of a claim to a spot in a squad if it were depleted.

Who between Maguire and Sheridan would be higher in the pecking order at present, I wonder?

Probably Sheridan, based on the level he's playing at right now

[backstothewall]

Who between Maguire and Sheridan would be higher in the pecking order at present, I wonder?

With all due to respect and a hearty GRMA to a hero of Irish football, I'd argue both should be ahead of Doyle.

[DannyInvincible]

Shane Keegan, the manager of Galway United, discusses Maguire's international hopes on Pundit Arena's football podcast: http://www.punditarena.com/football/...guire-ireland/

Keegan's Galway played against Cork last week but he also knows Maguire from his days as head of youth development in the Kilkenny District League.

No doubt I’d have absolutely loved to have seen Sean get called up. He’s a fella I still have a decent relationship with, we’d be texting on and off around events and that. I don’t think he can do a whole lot more at the moment in terms of putting himself in the shop window. Just looking at quotes yesterday, Martin [O’Neill] felt that there was still a few players in front of him in the pecking order, but I don’t know when the squad size is unlimited.

If it’s a case of you have to name a 22-man squad and naming Sean and somebody else is missing out, well then I can see there’s only so many spots, but when it is unlimited I don’t really see what the negatives could have been in naming Sean for it. But look, hopefully Sean will keep banging in goals (just not against us) and he might get that call-up again all going well shortly.

[DeLorean]

And while I'm usually fairly optimistic I think I need to be a bit more realistic about Maguire - people are talking about him as though it's inevitable that he'll follow in the footsteps of Kevin Doyle and make an immediate impact at Championship level by the end of this year (and I certainly hope that happens), but it's also possible that he ends up like other highly touted Cork City strikers: Dave Mooney, John O'Flynn and Roy O'Donovan, who did make a step up in their careers but not enough to become full internationals. With that in mind, it could be argued that League One strikers like Billy Clarke, Aiden O'Brien and Paddy Madden could have as much of a claim to a spot in a squad if it were depleted.

You're right of course but I don't think anybody thinks it's inevitable that Maguire will go and tear up the Championship, it's a huge step up and I'm pretty sure everybody would accept that. The difference I would see between Maguire and the others you named is that we know their level at this stage and it's probably a bit short of international football to be fair. We don't know what Maguire is capable of yet so in that context I don't think it would be any harm to try to find out ourselves, given the situation we are in regarding our striking options.

[DannyInvincible]

With the squad gathering in Fota Island for a training camp before heading to the US, you'd think/hope it'd be deemed worthwhile to get Maguire down, even if it was just for him to train with the squad (a bit like Gary Rogers' involvement on a few occasions). It would allow O'Neill to make a better assessment of the player as he'd get the chance to judge Maguire against the rest of the squad who are playing at a higher level.

I presume Maguire lives in or near Cork city?... Fota Island is less than a half-an-hour's drive away, so bringing the lad in would hardly be a hassle or costly. If it wasn't to work out, no big loss. If Maguire was to prove himself up to it, however, the potential benefit would be a striker for the long term with a clinical finishing ability. It seems like a no-brainer.

[DannyInvincible]

Dan McDonnell reports that Preston are "expected to activate [Maguire's] €150,000 release clause" and states that "advanced discussions [are believed to] have already taken place, with the main detail to be thrashed out revolving around his point of departure", as keeping Maguire at Cork for a portion of July would allow him to play for Cork in their opening Europa League qualifying fixture as well as league games.

Meanwhile, Roy Keane has stated that Maguire will have to bide his time for an international call-up and has reiterated that there are a number of options still ahead of him:

We have looked at Sean, we've seen him live on a few occasions - the manager has - he's doing well and he has to keep doing well. There is talk of him maybe getting a move and if that happens we'll probably get more opportunities to see him. But there are just a few players ahead of him at this moment in time but that's all pretty normal. There is nothing untoward.

He needs to keep doing the business, keep putting the ball in the back of the net and keep knocking on the door and eventually, like the other lads here… you have to be patient. I know we have Shane Long injured but there are lads ahead of him, people like Jon Walters, James McClean can play through the middle, Daryl Murphy has never let us down, there are good options there for us. We see Kevin Long coming into the squad at 26. I'm not saying Maguire will have to wait that long but sometimes you have to be patient in this game."

[nigel-harps1954]

Magic plane is getting refueled ahead of the August/September international games.

[samhaydenjr]

Dan McDonnell reports that Preston are "expected to activate [Maguire's] €150,000 release clause" and states that "advanced discussions [are believed to] have already taken place, with the main detail to be thrashed out revolving around his point of departure", as keeping Maguire at Cork for a portion of July would allow him to play for Cork in their opening Europa League qualifying fixture as well as league games.

Meanwhile, Roy Keane has stated that Maguire will have to bide his time for an international call-up and has reiterated that there are a number of options still ahead of him:

If more than one club are interested, could a bidding war erupt, and could City decide where he ends up? Or does Maguire have the option of just going to the first place that offers 150k?

[DannyInvincible]

Once the release clause is triggered, I would assume Cork have no further legal control over the situation. If Cork are able to get Preston to agree to allowing Maguire to stay at Cork for a portion of July, I suspect it would be as a gesture of good will on Preston's part.

[pineapple stu]

If more than one club are interested, could a bidding war erupt, and could City decide where he ends up? Or does Maguire have the option of just going to the first place that offers 150k?

The only bidding war would be over Maguire's wages. Cork would be stuck with 150k regardless.

(Source - all the times it's happened me in Championship Manager...)

[nigel-harps1954]

Little bit short sighted on Corks part to have put such a small release fee on his contract. They'd have easily got another €100k on top of that.

[DannyInvincible]

Little bit short sighted on Corks part to have put such a small release fee on his contract. They'd have easily got another €100k on top of that.

Cork had little choice but to agree to the inclusion of the small-fee release clause in the contract in order to persuade Maguire to sign a new deal at a time when there was interest in him from the UK and Belgian interest. Also, he'll be available for free in November anyway, so Cork didn't have a huge deal of bargaining power.

[DannyInvincible]

'Cork City talisman Sean Maguire set to join Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle in Preston': http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/socc...guire-10502325

Sean Maguire looks set to sign a three-year deal with Preston this summer.

Mirror Sport understands the Championship club are now confident they have their man in a crushing but inevitable blow for Cork City.