Sean Maguire F Carlisle United b.1994

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

To be fair to Sheridan and Jagiellonia, the Polish league is a decent level and the club finished second last year after having led for most of the season. The Polish league is definitely of a higher standard than Scotland, for example, and the stats support this contention. As of this season, it's ranked the 18th-best league in Europe. For comparison, Scotland is presently ranked 27th and we're in 36th. I watched quite a few of Sheridan's games last season; the football was quick and technically good. Jagiellonia regularly filled their 22,000-seater stadium to capacity and Poland is a country of nearly 40 million people, so it's hardly as if nobody has ever heard of them either.

Anyway, my point is that I don't think it's necessary to denigrate Jagiellonia or the level at which Sheridan is playing in order to make a case for Maguire's inclusion in the international set-up. I think both players have done enough to justify call-ups.

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Let's be fair about it further though..

Polish league is a good league yes. My comment was a little tongue in cheek. Go around Dublin, London, Paris, Madrid or any other major European city and ask a random 100 local people do they know who Jagiellonia are and what league they play in, and I'd wager you won't get too many correct answers. They're hardly a household name, much the same a Levadia Tallinn. That was the point I was making. The Polish league is well supported in Poland, it's hardly full of household names though?

Also, Jagiellonias average attendance last year was just north of 13,000. Only one team in the league averaged over 20,000, and that was Legia Warsaw. Lech Poznan were next on 19,000. They hardly 'regularly filled their 22,000 seater' at that?

I'm not trying to denigrate anyones level, far be it from me as a League of Ireland supporter to attempt to denigrate any level of football, as you say, stats don't lie and Ireland is sitting in a heady 36th place in terms of league ranking. The point is, Maguire is an in-form striker, and just scored a European hat-trick on top of his 19 league goals, and yet he still has to make a step up in leagues to be regarded worthy of a call up. I don't understand this. If he played five good games and scored five goals in that space at Preston, you can sure he'll get called up, and everyone will be (rightly) saying it's well deserved.

If he's in good form now, why not call him up now?

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Originally Posted by samhaydenjr

When talking about a potential call-up for Maguire, we should bear in mind that our forward options for the rest of the campaign are surely Long, Walters and Murphy plus McGoldrick or Doyle based on the level they play at and their international experience. Some spots will probably open up in a year's time and Maguire should be assessed at that point - the coming season will give us the opportunity for a clearer comparison with our other Championship strikers: McGoldrick, Will Keane, Aiden O'Brien, Joe Mason and possibly Reece Grego-Cox. Unless he really tears things up in the first couple of months, which would be great.

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Every striker you mentioned above as current options are over the age of 30, or in the case of McGoldrick, turning 30 this year. Will Keane has given no indication that he'll declare for Ireland and has arguably yet to prove himself at senior level. O'Brien is playing League One. Are you saying that's above where Maguire is playing? Joe Mason is an average to poor Championship striker who's best league season to date saw a return of only 9 goals, 7 seasons ago. Grego-Cox reportedly has potential, I have yet to see him play, but he's got a grand total of 6 senior appearances and no goals. Turning 21 this year, that's hardly ideal?

For me, Maguire should be in the squad already. It's total bullsh!t from O'Neill to pander him off saying he's not ready yet.

O'Brien is playing Championship football this season after getting promoted with Millwall

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

O'Brien is playing Championship football this season after getting promoted with Millwall

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My apologies, I hadn't realised Millwall were promoted.

No problem, it will mean any comparison between the two strikers will be interesting

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

Playing for some team in Poland that nobody has ever heard of? I don't see how Sheridan is playing at that much a higher level than Maguire currently. Similar footballing standards as far as I'm concerned.

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I look forward to watching him progress, hopefully.

I think others have already made the point that the standard is not comparable.

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

Also, Jagiellonias average attendance last year was just north of 13,000. Only one team in the league averaged over 20,000, and that was Legia Warsaw. Lech Poznan were next on 19,000. They hardly 'regularly filled their 22,000 seater' at that?

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Apologies. That was carelessness on my part. :o

I hadn't looked at specific or average attendance figures. I was just going off match coverage and highlights videos with the stadium looking fairly full from what I saw, although all the games I watched were towards the end of the season when they had a serious chance of winning the league up until the final day. They might have been drawing larger crowds then than attendances they'd have been bringing in at the start of the season as a result.

Still, 13,000 isn't an insignificant figure and the league itself tends to be around the 12th-best supported league in Europe with an overall average attendance of over 9,500 last season when you take all clubs into account.

It's not necessarily a strict indicator of the playing ability on show, of course, but it's undoubtedly a fair bit ahead of ourselves in terms of average attendances and the financial clout of their clubs. More money generally means they have the ability to source, attract and pay a higher standard of player.

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The point is, Maguire is an in-form striker, and just scored a European hat-trick on top of his 19 league goals, and yet he still has to make a step up in leagues to be regarded worthy of a call up. I don't understand this. If he played five good games and scored five goals in that space at Preston, you can sure he'll get called up, and everyone will be (rightly) saying it's well deserved.

If he's in good form now, why not call him up now?

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I fully agree with you on that. At the very least, he should have been brought into the recent training squad at Fota Island.

I understand the argument that he needs to play at a higher level to be in consideration. And he will be next season. However, if you saw him play regularly in the last year, I don't think you'd have any doubt that he would improve our striker options. He should have been brought to the US at least. He'll easily make the World Cup squad if we qualify.

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

Every striker you mentioned above as current options are over the age of 30, or in the case of McGoldrick, turning 30 this year. Will Keane has given no indication that he'll declare for Ireland and has arguably yet to prove himself at senior level. O'Brien is playing League One. Are you saying that's above where Maguire is playing? Joe Mason is an average to poor Championship striker who's best league season to date saw a return of only 9 goals, 7 seasons ago. Grego-Cox reportedly has potential, I have yet to see him play, but he's got a grand total of 6 senior appearances and no goals. Turning 21 this year, that's hardly ideal?

For me, Maguire should be in the squad already. It's total bullsh!t from O'Neill to pander him off saying he's not ready yet.

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While the strikers I mentioned are over 30, they will be our main strikers for the rest of the qualifying campaign - there's only three months and four games left (plus possible play-offs). Places will likely open for the Euro 2020 qualifiers. My point is that it is difficult to compare Maguire's achievements in the LOI against strikers in The Championship and it is entirely possible that they might still be better options and it will be only after a year at the same level that we'll be able to judge if he will fill one of those places versus the players I mentioned:
- McGoldrick likely has at least one campaign left in him (assuming he stays fit) and is an experienced Championship campaigner
- As noted, O'Brien will be playing Championship next year after a reasonable season in League One, where he notched up 13 goals - if he can build on that, he could have a break-out season
- Will Keane actually has expressed an interest (https://www.thesun.ie/archives/footb...comes-calling/) and while his form to date hasn't exactly set the world on fire, Hull seemed to see something in him when they made him a Premier League striker before injury cut his season short. If he can start to deliver on that promise next season, he might be worth looking at
- Admittedly Joe Mason hasn't been a particularly prolific goalscorer (although he has got a record of about 1 goal in 4 games over eight seasons, mostly in the Championship) - but then, neither was Daryl Murphy until he turned thirty.
- OK, Reece Grego-Cox might still be a bit of a long-shot, but after scoring five goals in two appearances for QPR's U-23s recently, hey, you never know
- And there's no guarantee that Maguire will be able to carry his LOI form straight into The Championship as the experience of Richie Towell and others has shown. That said, if he bangs in 15-20 goals next season, which I certainly hope he does, then he should definitely be called up for the Euro 2020 qualifiers and possibly for the World Cup Finals, should we make it

He didnt do much the last day against a very average but physical cypriot side

TBF he had two men on him the whole time

Just as well other sides won't think of that

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Just as well other sides won't think of that

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one thing thinking about it, another actually doing it effectively, as Larnica did

Just as well there's no-one as good as Larnaka in the English second flight. Or at international level.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Just as well there's no-one as good as Larnaka in the English second flight. Or at international level.

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steady on, he hasn't moved or got any caps yet............

Another goal in his last LOI appearance for Cork. 20 for the season in the league is some return.

Maguire discussed on Soccer Republic last night. - https://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/so...4171/10752427/

What a goal he got at the weekend.

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Maguire off the mark and Kevin Long also scored! Burnley lead 2-1.

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Goal here - https://twitter.com/CKey9/status/889941665439461376

Call him up Martin.......

Absolute cracker. The finish at the end was just gorgeous to top it all off.

yep, apart from the super finish , it was his confidence to hold the ball and not pass to a team mate, that makes it great