Hammers Striker Maguire in European Shocker!!!

Maguire as a youth in Kilkenny

Sometimes it can be hard to appreciate the value in loan arrangements for players - especially when the reciving club leaves them warming the bench for extended periods. Sean Maguire, for example, is a young Irish striker who joined West Ham from Waterford United two and a half years ago and has been at Sligo Rovers for the past League of Ireland season. Initially, this looked like a good move as he had been making progress with the West Ham U19 squad and physically strengthened enough to allow him to have a run out with the grown ups.

 

Maguire at Waterford United

However, after a handful of starts, along with a few late appearances as a substitute, then followed by the recent departure of Rover's manager Ian Barraclough, the lad looked stranded in nowheresvillle. As such, the team at VERYWESTHAM decided to make the trip to Ireland's North-West and check out what was going on at Rovers for their Europa Cup qualifying tie second leg versus FC Banga from Lithuania.

 

Irritatingly, the tie was tightly balanced after a 0-0 draw in the first leg and Maguire only made the bench. After a close first 40 minutes it all tilted in Rover's favour as they got a crucial goal and then one of the Lithuanians was sent off, allowing them to run riot with a record 4-0 victory!!!

Some Sligo Dudes after the Hammering of FC Banga - what's Lithuanian for 'Samaritans'?

Sadly, Maguire didn't get to contribute to the action and we returned home with the sense that the loan is a big waste of time. And so to the next round for Sligo where they took on Rosenberg FC - a tough task for the Irish side but they again pulled out all the stops in a sensational 2-1 victory away from home last night, BUT this time young Maguire got to come on for the last 5 minutes and get some experience of European footie. A happy night for all concerned but now the home leg awaits and VERYWESTHAM will have to make arrangements for the trip up North next week.

So bored at Sligo that he has resorted to extreme body inking to pass the time

Maguire's loan period finishes at the end of July - given the limited match experience he has picked up it seems hard to justify an extension if we really think he can make the transition to top class Premiership fooie. Whatever happens in the future, he will have fond memories of last night in Norway!