Seani’s stage again: Maguire ready to lead City at the Aviva

In some ways, it’s fitting. It’s fitting for Cork City, and it’s fitting for Seani Maguire to be back in the FAI Cup final.

The man who lit up Turner’s Cross in 2016 and 2017, who dragged a club and a city to silverware and then sent them charging towards a double, has returned to the fold and finds himself back at the Aviva. Different chapter, different circumstances, same spotlight.

And of all the memories he’s made for City, it’s one game, one moment, that lingers above the rest.

“One in particular, isn’t it?” he begins. “Probably the worst performance I've put on in a Cork jersey. But scoring the goal that helped us win the double the following year. I spoke to somebody earlier and I remember going into that game and there was about seven or eight teams coming over to watch me.

“And then after the game, they all said no, because of my performance. But no one remembers that because I scored the winner,” Maguire explains. “I knew straight away after the game that I was crap. It was the worst performance I've put on in a Cork jersey, probably to this day.” 

Did that take the shine off the celebrations?

“A little bit. But maybe not actually!” he laughs. “Maybe it spoiled it in a couple of weeks' time when I finally got told that I wasn't on anyone's radar anymore.

“I remember a few instances in that game where I tried to get it on the half turn in the middle of the pitch and Dundalk actually should have scored a couple of times, if you watch the game back. But everything happens for a reason.

“Maybe I don't go on, if I do end up joining a team that year. I obviously don't go and do what I did for Cork in 2016-17.

“When I left in 2017, I genuinely thought I'd definitely get over 50 caps for Ireland,” Seani admits. 

I was that mentally driven and I’d that much belief in the way I was playing. Looking back on it now, obviously, it didn't happen. I ended up getting 11 caps.

TOUGH

“I think that was just purely down to the luck I had with injuries at the wrong times. Getting back, not finding my feet again, getting injured. It kept on happening over and over again. It was just a mental battle then.

“I started seeing a few people about trying to change my mental side of the game, which helped for a small bit, but then another injury. It was quite tough. Would I change any of that? No, I wouldn't.

“Hopefully it brings me into a position now where I help Cork win a cup for the first time in eight years and put a bit of pride into our season.” 

The pride is personal – and so is the guilt. The turmoil of City’s season has been well documented. The relegation, and a complete absence of away wins, but there’s a chance tomorrow to make amends in Dublin.

“I think myself and Keats [Ruairi Keating] will feel a little bit of guilt. I know Keats only played the bones of six games this season. I think I missed like 12.

“But we're still feeling guilty because the club brought us back and all the pressure was on us to perform, and then both of us were missing large parts of the season,” he says. “But I think a fully fit Seani Maguire is still the best striker in the country, even to this day.

“My hamstring injury was meant to be the bones of 16-18 weeks. I came back after 10 or 11. I should have given myself another couple of weeks after the break, but I wanted to get back.

“It took me a good few weeks, maybe a couple of months, to get back to where I feel like I've been the last couple of months.

But if I had Ruairi beside me… I've missed him up front with me. We wouldn't have been relegated if the two of us were fit all season.

Seani speaks with confidence. Earned confidence, not arrogance. He’s got quality, experience, and has faced plenty of setbacks. He’s been there, he’s done that.

And he counts the 2016 final against Dundalk among the finest days of his career. But there are others.

“I think scoring for your country, making your debut for your country and then I think the one where I came back from being out with my hamstring to score a brace in a local derby for Preston against Bolton, that was definitely there.

“But if we win on Sunday I think that would top them all,” he says. “Because of how the season has panned out. Obviously getting relegated, the position we find ourselves in, it would mean a lot, not just to me, but to the whole city and fanbase.”