John Caulfield: We can’t instantly replace goal machine Maguire

Cork City manager John Caulfield has admitted that finding a replacement for Sean Maguire is “not going to happen straight away” as the Preston striker — a used substitute for his new club in their 0-0 draw with Leeds United on Saturday — waits to see if Martin O’Neill includes him when he unveils his Ireland squad today for next month’s World Cup qualifiers.

“We fought long and hard with those negotiations, which were in April, to keep him until the end of the season,” said Caulfield. “He was wanted on the first of July but we fought and got him for seven more matches before he went — and they were crucial. People are saying we were a one-man team but tell me one team that has a fella that gets 20 goals and wins the league that isn’t a one-man team, if that’s the case. Gary Twigg, Christy Fagan, Pat Morley, all the greats — at the end of the day you need a guy who’ll get you 16 to 20 goals. You’ll not win a league unless you have a player like that. Dundalk had the luxury that they had two players, (David) McMillan and (Ciaran) Kilduff, both getting double numbers but our luxury was that we had Seanie Maguire. And to replace a guy like that, we’ll try and do that over the next season but, in fairness to young (Connor) Ellis and (Achille) Campion, it’s not going to happen straight away.”

“People are saying you’re not scoring as much and that’s true but, at the same time, we’ve played five games in the last 15 days and we’ve won two crucial league games and we’re in the next round of the FAI Cup, so we have to be happy with that.”