Cork City finally prevailed against Dundalk City yesterday, by clinching the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup trophy in dramatic fashion.
With extra-time almost up, Sean Maguire emerged with the winning strike against his former club to send the Aviva Stadium into rapturous applause.
Dundalk have dominated in the domestic league in recent seasons with Cork City following close behind them in second place.
City manager John Caulfield spoke to Nathan Murphy on Off The Ball this evening and said that it was an 'emotional moment' for the club. He also remarked on goal scorer Maguire and his return to form since arriving at the southern club last November.
The lads from @CorkCityFC in to look at @Seani_Maguire_ and his new pub #CCFC84 pic.twitter.com/8AdT8L4Z16
— The Sean Maguire Inn (@thebtownbar) November 7, 2016
Caulfield explained how the impact of his unsuccessful move to West Ham broke his self-confidence and how he built it back up this season.
"Seanie is the example of the majority of Irish lads who go over to England at 18 or 19 and they come back and are disillusioned, their confidence is shattered and a lot of them follow the game and never come again. Seanie last November wasn't in a good place, he had 18 months before that where he just hadn't done well. I didn't offer him anything other than to come down and train hard. Obviously he had talent because West Ham signed him but it was up to him to see could he reproduce it."
"He hit the ground running, we did a lot of work with him but he got goals pre-season and continued right through. It just shows you if you come back from England with a knock, if you have the attitude and desire to buckle down there's opportunities there for you and he's a classic example of that."
He added that the club would support him if he decides to pursue a move back to English football.
"It's like in any job, if you can go and better yourself you're entitled to do that. You shake a man's hand and if Seanie gets a move to the Premiership, we'll shake his hand and congratulate him. But if he moves on we want to see him progress himself."
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