Rory Maguire: 'We hadn't been in a final for three seasons, which for a team of our talent is frustrating'

READY FOR FINAL:  Castlehaven captain Rory Maguire who play Nemo Rangers in the Bon Secours Cork Premier SFC final against Nemo Rangers . Pic: Eddie O'Hare

Since the restarting of sport after the first covid lockdown, Rory Maguire’s graph has taken flight.

Pre-covid, Maguire was a teenager with potential and the odd injury problem. The latter outmuscled the former to push a starting spot on the Castlehaven senior team beyond reach.

But over the past four seasons, his rise has been as strong and forceful as his counter-attacking and point-taking in the opposition half.

From a first Castlehaven start to Castlehaven lynchpin. From Cork rookie and Cork debutant to Cork regular. From Cork lynchpin to All-Star nominee.

Maguire, still only 24, has packed a fair bit into the last four years. Next on the list is a first county senior medal.

We’ll come back to that latest goal further down. First to the road travelled. Or rather, the significant ground made up in a short space of time.

The defender made his first senior start for the Haven in Round 1 of the 2020 county championship against neighbours Rosscarbery. A year and a half later, he was making his first league start for the Cork seniors.

By the end of that 2022 season, only midfielder Colm O’Callaghan had seen more game-time in red than the late-blooming debutant from West Cork. The amount of minutes clocked was all the more impressive when you factor in that Maguire never made a Cork minor panel and saw no action during his one season as a Cork U20.

2023, as evidenced by his All-Star nomination, went up another few steps again. The most notable feature of this second season in red was the impact exerted at the other end of the field.

In the Munster quarter-final defeat to Clare, he was one of only four Cork players to find the target. There were two white flags in the All-Ireland series win over Mayo. Another pair in the preliminary quarter-final win over Roscommon. An All-Ireland quarter-final goal against Derry.

All this from the man wearing number three on his back.

“Before training and after training, I have done a lot of work on shooting. I have been working on that for a couple of years. It was nice to see it pay off this season,” said Maguire.

For Castlehaven, the forays forward haven’t been as many. His one championship point this year did come in the semi-final, so maybe that is a warning to Nemo that his inter-county approach is belatedly being applied to club affairs.

“I wouldn't have been a massive scorer for the Haven in recent seasons because obviously we have the Hurleys, Mark Collins, Jack Cahalane, and Cathal Maguire. We have a stack of forwards, so it was never really needed for me to pop up for a few scores.

“The way the inter-county game has gone, it allows backs to go forward a bit more than in the club championship. It is more 15 on 15 in the club. The inter-county game is a bit like basketball. Everyone is up, everyone is back. That presents more scoring opportunities for the backs.” 

Whether he contributes on the scoresheet or not this Sunday, the sole priority is to leave Páirc Uí Chaoimh with a first county medal.

“It was a massive feeling to get over the Barrs and get back into the final. We hadn't been in a final for three seasons, which for a team of our talent is frustrating.

“We have nothing won yet, though. I was on the bench when we beat Nemo in the 2018 quarter-final. We didn't go on to win the county, so that is a reminder that you can have these big wins but still be left with nothing at the end of the day.

“I remember 2012 and 13 when I was a young lad following the senior team. They were great days for me. It is just trying to replicate that for the younger fellas of today.

“We really, really want to bring Andy Scannell back to Union Hall, Castletownshend. It would mean so much to the place.”