Seanie Maguire, who now plays his club football with Dundalk will be hoping to feature for Ireland’s U21 against Lithuania at the RSC on Friday
Seanie Maguire, the former Waterford United striker is looking forward to playing for the Republic of Ireland against Lithuania at the RSC on Friday next. It will be a return to his old stomping ground for the player who has certainly moved around the scene since his departure from the Blues. Speaking before Dundalk’s FAI Cup semi final against Longford Town, Seanie looked back at his career to date.
“I’m obviously delighted to be included. I haven’t played an awful lot recently so I was a bit iffy about whether I’d be named in this squad. I’ve always been absolutely honoured to be picked for my country at any age group. I know most of the boys for a few years since being with the U!9’s and we’re all very comfortable with each other.”
Maguire’s form in the U21 friendly games v England C & England U21s was impressive in the summer:
“I try approach every game the same even friendlies, I try to make a point all the time. I felt that in the two games against England in the summer I did quite well, I felt I did myself justice scoring a goal and getting an assist. For the first Andorra game in March I was a late call up so I was just pleased to be involved and was happy to get a few minutes at the end.”
The two wins over Andorra gives the U21s a good start:
“The first game against Andorra at the RSC we were only getting to know each other so the performance wasn’t as good as it could have. In the friendly against Qatar last month we seemed to click, they were all older than us so it was a very good performance. We had two different elevens in each half of that game and scored twice in each half so that was very positive. Andorra parked the bus against us over there and had 11 men behind the ball so we were delighted to get some early goals and win it 2-0 to get off to a good start in the competitive games.
Maguire expects to face a much stiffer test from Lithuania:
“They will be tougher than Andorra and we know a lot about them because we’d watched their game against Andorra and to be honest they were very unlucky that day as the Andorrans got one chance and a penalty. They’ll be wound up to get a result so we’ll have to be ready for them trying their best to get back into contention in the group.”
The Dundalk player is very much looking forward to a return to the RSC.
“I met up late ahead of the first game so it was a bit of a blur but it brought back a lot of happy memories of playing my club football at the RSC, particularly walking out on the pitch. I wasn’t really expecting to get on but when it came it was a great moment to win my first U21 cap at the ground where I really made my name. I was actually bit frustrated not to have scored in the end as the keeper made a good save and denied me the chance to score. I hope I’ll get another opportunity to show what I can do and hopefully take my chances when they come.”
