Sean Maguire: 'Being back in the dressing rooms it felt like a lifetime ago I was back playing with Cork'

A local hero on Leeside and an emerging star on the national stage – it has been a whirlwind 12 months for Sean Maguire.

Having scored 38 goals for Cork City in an 18-month spell at the club, Maguire drove the Rebel Army to the 2016 FAI Cup.

His goals pushed City 18 points clear in the league at the midway point in the 2017 season before signing for Preston North End.

On Tuesday, a year on from his last outing in a City shirt, the 24 year old striker returned to his adopted homeland when he faced Cobh Ramblers at the ground he once called home (report here).

It was a homecoming of all sorts, from the roaring Preston fans to the gathered massed in the Donie Forde Stand.

For the man affectionately known as ‘Seani,' it was all a bit surreal to be back at the club he once called his own.

“It was a bit strange,” he told extratime.ieb.

“The past year flew by, but being back in the dressing rooms it felt like a lifetime ago I was back playing with Cork.”

Before he could finish, news breaks from Warsaw where City are down 1-0 to Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Champions League.

“I thought that if things went my way I’d be out there watching the boys play against Legia Warsaw. But it was good to be out there today and getting that few minutes under my belt.”



The homecoming quickly fell to catch up as Maguire recounted what it has been like since his last outing in Cork.

“It’s been a brilliant year; it’s been a bit surreal obviously. Coming over to Preston after scoring a lot of goals at Cork City I obviously had a bit of expectation on my shoulders.

“I was playing games straight away. I played well but didn’t score a lot of goals at the same time.

“It took me awhile to start scoring goals, but once I got unto the rhythm, I started getting used to the Championship standard and became pretty easy to me.

“I scored my first goal and made my international debut. Then when I came back, I think it was my first game where I did my hamstring. Obviously those couple of months where hard.

“On my return I scored a couple of goals, which is a great confidence boost.



“You always have that doubt in your head when you get a long term injury that are you going to come back the same player.

“But the physios at Preston where brilliant and I came back stronger than I ever was before. The sharpness and what I had before my injury took time.

“I felt towards the end of the season that I was physically and mentally fatigued. I went away with Ireland and picked up a small injury.

“In the off-season I was really just in the gym working really hard and rebuilding that strength in my hamstrings. In the last couple of weeks I feel that I am back to my best.

“Even though when I came back from injury I scored a lot of goals, I didn’t feel like I was back to my 100% best. The past couple of weeks I feel like I am.”

Maguire held nothing back as he explained the mental fatigue which crept into his late season surge.

“It was an 18-month season with a four-month injury. Having a month of preseason and then coming back, you can get over being physically being tired but mentally being tired.

“When you're playing for 18 months, it is good to switch off for a couple of weeks. It’s great to be back now and I feel brilliant.”

Having scored five goals in three games for the Lilywhites in pre-season, Maguire feels he is thriving going into the 2018/18 Skybet Championship campaign,

“Part of these games is about getting back to full fitness and match sharpness. That’s 60 minutes under the belt now.

“This weekend now we’ve got big Premier League opposition in West Ham, so obviously I'm looking to get more minutes under my belt.

“It doesn’t matter who we are playing against, we’ve been scoring a lot of goals. Confidence around the group is very high and long may it continue.”

Ahead into next month’s opener against QPR at Deepdale, Maguire is confident of his side’s ability of going one better next season and reaching the promised land of the Premier League,

“The players the gaffer has brought in, has caused a great deal of competition around the squad.

“You see Graham Burke out there, he scored a great goal today. He can play anywhere across the front four.

“We set the standard last year by finishing seventh and two points off the play off spots. I think though, that was our own doing.

“I always look back to that Derby game when we lost 1-0 on Sky. We weren’t clinical and that was the story of our season last year.

“That’s something the gaffer really has looked at this year, just to be more clinical. We’ve been creating the chances, we just have to be clinical enough in front of goal.”