Cork City’s Seán Maguire to join Preston North End

Preston North End have confirmed the signing of Cork City forward Seán Maguire on a three-year-deal. The 23-year-old will move to Deepdale at the end of July, meaning that he will be available to John Caulfield for the start of the Irish side's European campaign.

No details of the fee have been revealed, but Maguire is believed to have had a clause in the contract he signed before the start of this season allowing him to leave for England if a club agreed to pay City €150,000 for him.

His loss will clearly be felt by the league leaders, however, with Maguire having scored 47 goals since he joined after being released by rivals Dundalk.

He has been an absolutely central figure in City’s remarkable start to this campaign, scoring 16 goals in 17 games, the last three of them at Oriel Park against his former club on Friday night.

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“Since coming in to the club Seanie has been fantastic for us,” said Caulfield as City confirmed the move. “His attitude, work rate, determination and mental toughness have got him to this position and this is a fantastic opportunity for him.

“When he joined us, he was a bit low in confidence but he settled in quickly with this incredible bunch of players and showed he had the resilience and determination to find his form and get his self belief back.

“He has been scoring goals, his work rate is phenomenal and we know he’ll continue to do that in the rest of his time here. Whilst you never want to lose a player of Seanie’s quality, we are delighted to have worked with Preston so that he can remain with us until the end of July.

“We’ve had a very strong start to the campaign, the lads have a well-deserved break now to recharge their batteries and get ready for a massive second half of the season and that’s our focus now.”

Maguire, who started his career at Waterford United and also had spells at West Ham and Sligo Rovers, was named for PFAI Young Player of the year for last season. He will join the growing contingent of Irish players at Preston, who are also believed to be interested in his Cork teammate Kevin O'Connor, which already includes former Dundalk teammates Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle as well as Alan Browne and Greg Cunningham.