RTÉ showed a short bit of footage there a while ago of Maguire walking towards Lansdowne Road as part of the build-up coverage for today's FAI Cup final. It was just a few seconds, but he seemed to be walking relatively OK - no major limp or anything - and wasn't on crutches either. Would he be on crutches if the hamstring injury was a full tear? I'd have thought so.
Eir Sport tonight (22:00 - 22:30)
Sean Maguire brings Des Curran on a tour of his native Kilkenny to look back on where it all began and discuss what a remarkable year it has been for the Preston and Ireland star.
The above programme is now available on the Eir Sport YouTube channel.
Came on on 65 mins with the game 1-1, Preston away to Bolton. Scores 12 minutes later to put them up.
Great to see him back and on the score-sheet straight away.
Two easy finishes but fantastic run for the first and brilliant positioning for the second.
Preston fans waxing lyrical in their forum about Seani: http://www.pne-online.net/forum/show...5-00-Cp/page43
My personal favourite: "He is and always has been, this season, our best attacker. I wonder what he's worth in this market. Wow"
Many opining that his all-round performance was excellent, aside from the goals. One calling it a "10/10".
With Jordan Hugill leaving in January, there's a spot as the number 9 there for Seani. That would suit us as we are unlikely to play a formation that would get the best out of him on the right. I hope he goes on to play there for the rest of the season.
It's funny but it feels a little bit like 1997 with lads like Maguire,rice and alll the other young lads bubbling under. Not saying they will reach where Robbie or Duffer did and we don't have a player like Roy Keane,but can't help but feel we will be in a healthier position than we have been for a long time in the next few years.
Maguire looks like a premier league player in waiting.
Maguire's 23; 24 in a few weeks. I don't think it's fair to put him alongside the likes of Keane and Duff, who were Premier League regulars at 20. He's more like a Kevin Doyle, which is still a bloody useful thing to have. But I think it's a bit different to Keane/Duff.
I'll still be sceptical too while players aren't coming through. Our last underage success was probably the U-19s reaching the 2011 European semi-finals? Only Jeff Hendrick and John Egan have gone on to play for the senior team, and Egan's only played twice.
That's not just an Irish thing either; I read a bit about England's bid for the 2018 World Cup, where they were listing all the great English players who'd likely be on show by then. I'd only heard of one or two of them. I don't think underage means much unfortunately.
As i said,i wouldn't put any of them especially Sean Maguire in the category of Robbie or Duffer. However,Maguire is clearly a very good Championship striker and i think has shown signs he could be a premier league player in the future.
Someone like Rice has had a very good season for his age. He will become a very good player. I'm excited about him. The likes of Browne are talented also.
The other lads in the academies and u23 teams will be harder to predict. It's not just talent but luck. Their loan moves can make or break confidence. 3 years ago Jack Byrne looked like Paul Scholes in the youth equivalent of the Champions League. I wouldn't write him off as he is a real talent but he hasn't progressed the way we might have expected. I wouldn't get carried away about our youth players but i definitively think that we seem to have a more exciting batch coming through than recent years.
We should soon be adding Matt Doherty to that list - also if Samir Carruthers can establish himself more at Sheffield United and Derrick Williams returns to The Championship next season with Blackburn, they may put themselves in the frame. But I do see your point - qualification for a single underage championship doesn't guarantee a major crop of international-level players coming through - in the late 90s and early 2000s we qualified for a bunch of underage tournaments and put together senior teams from players who made the grade from those groups. With that said we have qualified for two of the past three U17 finals tournaments and Adam Idah is top scorer in qualifiers this year (Aaron Connolly was top-scorer for 2017's qualifiers) and we have a number of young players (strikers particularly) coming through. Hopefully we can keep that run going with this year's U17s and U19s and be able to strengthen our squad further over the next couple of years or so.
Yeah, that's fair. That's why I put him on a par with Kevin Doyle. Different player I think - more a number 9 than a number 10 - but a similar standard, potential and career curve.Originally Posted by Bungle
We did and we didn't. The team that was third in the 1997 U-20 World Cup did bugger all, Duffer aside. Quite remarkable really.
The two European champion teams provided less than you'd think - Dunne, O'Shea, Keane, Reid, Miller and some squad players. Was there 18 in each squad? That's 31 out of the 36 that made little impact at senior level.
Fair point on Doherty - but he's 26 now. When you're talking about the current crop of 19s, it's a long time to be waiting.
I do enjoy reading on here about how the young players are doing - and I think you're better connected than most! - but history says until they're coming through at senior level, you're counting your chickens before they hatch unfortunately.
Back to Seani. He came on on the 65th minute, ease him back in must be Neill's thinking. Seani goes and scores within 4 minutes to make it 2-1 at home to Bristol City. Alan Browne had them up 1-0.
chris (@ChrisPitcher) Tweeted:
GOAL @Seani_Maguire_ #PNEFC https://t.co/rs8NzdEtOt https://twitter.com/ChrisPitcher/sta...170205184?s=17
Quite the solo effort too. This video skips a tad but you get the idea. This is brilliant stuff. If it stays like this they are a point off the play-offs places and they've pulled level with their opposition tonight in the table. The fans will love him even more.
Seani made it 1-1 at home to Fulham having started in the central striker spot. Fulham dug out a 2-1 win though. 4 in 3 for Seani.
Bookmarks