Sean Maguire: 'It's a great help when you look to your left and right and there are six Irish guys'

With two goals in his first seven games and a couple of assists to boot, former Cork City Sean Maguire has grasped the nettle with both hands since joining Preston North End in July.

The Kilkenny native has already seen his Championship form rewarded with a call-up to Martin O'Neill's international squad and the 23-year-old continues to grow in confidence.

Speaking on the Extratime.ie Sportscast with Declan Marron, Dave Donnelly and Macdara Ferris, Maguire reflected on his first month and a half in Lancashire.

“I was living in a hotel for the first month but I've found a place now and I've been living here the past three or four weeks,” Maguire said.

“The boys have been brilliant. It's a great help when you look to your left and your right and there's five or six Irish lads beside you in the dressing room.

“It's not just them that has been so good to me and Kevin since we came over – the other boys have been brilliant.

“There's a few coffee clubs being thrown about and doing stuff off the pitch. It's a really good dressing room, it's a young dressing room and everyone gets along with each other.

“There's some quality players and I feel that relationship off the pitch is just as important on the pitch.”

While O'Connor has found gametime hard to come by since making the switch, Maguire has hit the ground running with two league goals already to his name.

After netting a fine individual effort on his debut, in a very Irish friendly against Burnley, he broke his Championship duck in his fifth game, against Barnsley, and added another three days later in a 3-0 win over Cardiff.

“We're flying in the league and – we're fourth – and we've won the last two games.

“It's been a bit different for me – I've played in four different positions for Preston this year – but I've really enjoyed it, playing right, playing left and play off Jordan Hugill in the hole.

“Things are going great for me at the moment. I scored my first goal last week and continued that into the next game against Cardiff where we won 3-0.

“I've been scoring and the results have been going the right way.”

With the sought-after Hugill well-ensconced in the central striker role, Maguire has had to make do with a spot on the wings, but he's enjoyed adding a further string to his bow.

“Obviously there was loads of number nine at Cork, playing up front on my own. It seems a bit different at Preston – I'm not playing as a number nine now.

“We play two on the wing and Jordan up front. Tom Barkuizen is a striker as well but he's playing the three of us now in the front three.

“It's a bit different but I'm really enjoying it, obviously chipping in with the two goals last week and a few assists.

“In the first six games, we'd only scored three goals, and we've now scored six in the past two games. I felt as soon as we scored two or three in one game we were going to click as a group.

“We've a really young, hungry team and we've great competition going forward. We have six or seven players who can play in any position across the front four.”

Listen to Maguire discuss getting to grips with Championship football, his international aspirations and the credit Cork City are owed for turning his career around on the ET Sportscast below.

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